The Supper Table

In 1953 the New Jazz Society of Toronto invited the 5 incredible players to perform-- Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Max Roach and Charles Mingus.  It's the sort of fantasy made real that I would have considered too fantastic to dream about.  It's one thing to imagine seeing one of them in concert, but to imagine seeing all of them together seemed ridiculous.  Then I read about the concert in a Mingus biography and had to have it.  I finally found it in a New York City jazz store after searching for three years. Jazz at Massey Hall Side 2 Wee Hot House A night in Tunisia

This was a gift from a friend, a truly inspired gift.  Somehow I had never come across this.  It's now in my top 5 Mingus releases, just behind Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus , Black Saint and the Sinner Lady and Mingus at Antibes . Charles Mingus Blues and Roots Side 1 Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting Cryin' Blues Moanin'

The first radio show I had in college was a jazz show. At the time I really knew nothing about the music, just a few names. Every week I would pull records for a few hours, mostly based on familiar names and album covers, and then I would spend a few hours listening to tracks. As my knowledge and the show evolved, Charles Mingus' Better Git it in Your Soul became my opening song, my theme song in a sense. It feels like church gospel, on your feet hands clapping, head dipping to the beat. This song was my door way to Mingus' work, and through him to people like Eric Dolphy and Booker Ervin. It is because of a growing love of Mingus that I sought out Money Jungle, and took a deeper look at the life and work of Duke Ellington. It all started with the first track in this entry. Charles Mingus Ah Um side 1 1 Better Git It In Your Soul 2 Goodbye Porkpie Hat 3 Boogie Step Shuffle 4 Self-Portrait In Three Colors 5 Open Letter to Duke

There are times when I listen to an album and all I can think is, 'see, this is what's wrong with America.' I should rename this blog 'National Treasures That Weren't,' if only because for every album I want to say this should be a friggin' national treasure. Is there anyone who doubts that it should be some kind of spiritual crime that more people have listened to Britney Spears than those who have even heard of this album. This made me reconsider Duke Ellington. This marked a period in which he returned to musical primacy, no longer just retreading past accomplishments, but moving forward to meet and challenge the young guard. There are not many in any field who have acheived his level of greatness, coasted on his laurels for so long, as to become almost irrelevant, an afterthought, only to decide to re-define himself and his work in the last 20 years of his life. This album made me reconsider Duke Ellington because I had been under the mistaken imp...