charles mingus
Bassist Charles Mingus was always ready for a good fight. In the liner notes to this disc, Mingus says he wanted to respond to critics who said he didn't swing enough. And reply he did. Mingus gave whoever these absurd quibblers were some of the most ecstatic blues ("Moanin'" and "Cryin Blues"), gospel ("Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting"), and Dixieland ("My Jelly Roll Soul") the jazz world has ever heard. Along with his striking original compositions, the instrumental combination in Mingus's nonet remains unconventional: the frontline included four saxophonists and two trombonists without the counterweight of a trumpeter. The leader's sliding-octave bass lines and percussive slaps are totally rollicking, and the wild abandon in the group's playing is irrepressible...
...As bassist, pianist, bandleader, composer, arranger, and modern jazz mahatma, Charles Mingus had plenary control of all the expressive devices needed to manifest blues cries from the soul. The gospel blues 'Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" and five more numbers on this famous 1959 release have his ten musicians' spontaneous phrases in perfect balance with his ingenious compositional turns...
BLUES & ROOTS
(manand)