Biography

Irascible, demanding, bullying, and probably a genius, Charles Mingus cut himself a uniquely iconoclastic path through jazz, creating a legacy that became universally lauded only after he was no longer around to bug people. As a bassist, he knew few peers, blessed with a powerful tone and pulsating sense of rhythm, capable of elevating the instrument into the front line of a band. But had he been just a string player, few would know his name today. Rather, he was the greatest bass-playing leader/composer jazz has ever known, one who always kept his ears and fingers on the pulse, spirit, spontaneity, and ferocious expressive power of jazz. ~ Richard S. Ginell

Top Tracks

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• "old" Blues For Walt's Torin

• A Foggy Day

• A Sleepin' Bee

• All The Things You C 2

• Atfw You

• Backstage

• Better Get Hit In Yo' Soul

• Better Get Hit In Your Soul

• Better Get It In Your Soul

• Better Git It In Your Soul

• Blue Moon

• Body And Soul

• Boogie Stop Shuffle

• Boppin' In Boston

• Bounce

• Celia

• Cumbia & Jazz Fusion

• Devil Woman

• Dizzy Moods

• Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me

• Don't Be Afraid, The Clown's Afraid Too

• Don't Let It Happen Here

• Duke Ellington's Sound Of Love

• East Coasting

• Eclipse

• Epitaph, Pt. 1

• E's Flat Ah's Flat Too

• Fables Of Faubus

• Fables Of Faubus, Pt. 1

• Flamingo

• Folk Forms, No. 1

• Free Cell Block F, 'tis Nazi U.s.a.

• Freedom

• Getting Together

• Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

• Goodbye, Pork Pie Hat

• Gunslinging Bird

• Haitian Fight Song

• Half-mast Inhibition

• Hamp's New Blues

• Hobo Ho

• Hora Decubitus

• I Can't Get Started

• Ii B.s.

• I'll Remember April

• Invisible Lady

• Jitterbug Waltz

• Jump Monk

• King Porter Stomp

• Lady Bird

• Latter Day Saint

• Laura

• Little Royal Suite

• Love Chant

• M D M (monk, Duke & Me)

• Meditation On Inner Peace

• Meditations

• Meditations On Integration

• Meditations On Integration, Pt. 1 & 2

• Mingus Fingers

• Mingus Fingus No. 2

• Minor Intrusion

• Minor Intrusions

• Moanin'

• Monk, Bunk & Vice Versa (osmotin')

• Mood Indigo

• Moves

• Music For "todo Modo"

• My Jelly Roll Soul

• New Fables

• No Private Income Blues

• Nostalgia In Times Square

• Ode To Bird And Dizzy

• Oh Lord Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb On Me

• Oh Lord, Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb On Me

• Once Upon A Time, There Was A Holding Corporation Called Old America

• One More

• Opus Four

• Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk

• Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress, Then Silk Blues

• Original Faubus Fables

• Passions Of A Man

• Passions Of A Woman Loved

• Peggy's Blue Skylight

• Pink Topsy

• Pithecanthropus Erectus

• Pithecanthropus Erectus: First Take, Incomplete

• Prayer For Passive Resistance

• Profile Of Jackie

• Reincarnation Of A Lovebird

• Remember Rockefeller At Attica

• Roland Kirk's Message

• Scenes In The City

• Shuffle Bass Boogie

• Slop

• So Long Eric

• Song With Orange

• Sophisticated Lady

• Stormy Weather

• Sue's Changes

• Summertime

• Take The "a" Train

• Take The 'a' Train

• Tea For Two

• The Shoes Of The Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive Ass Slippers

• The Texas Hop

• Theme For Lester Young (goodbye Pork Pie Hat)

• Theme From Rhapsody In Blue

• These Foolish Things

• Thrice Upon A Theme

• Tijuana Gift Shop

• Tonight At Noon

• Track A - Solo Dancer

• Track A: Solo Dancer

• Track C - Group Dancers

• Track C: Group Dancers

• Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting

• Weird Nightmare

• Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am

• What Is This Thing Called Love?

• Woody 'n' You

• Work Song

• Yesterdays

• Ysabel's Table Dance

Discography

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• Something Like a Bird

  Atlantic

  1981

• Cumbia & Jazz Fusion

  1978

• Lionel Hampton Presents Charles Mingus

  Giants Of Jazz Recordings

  1977

• Changes Two

  Rhino

  1975

• Changes One

  Rhino

  1974

• Mingus Moves

  32 Records / Rhino

  1973

• Charles Mingus and Friends in Concert

  Legacy / Columbia/Legacy

  1972

• Charles Mingus [Denon]

  Denon Records

  1971

• Charles Mingus [CM]

  Charles Mingus

  1965

• My Favorite Quintet

  Charles Mingus

  1965

• The Great Concert of Charles Mingus

  Prestige Records

  1964

• Town Hall Concert [1962]

  Original Jazz Classics

  1962

• Reincarnation of a Lovebird

  Candid Records / Candid

  1961

• Mingus Revisited

  Emarcy / JDC Records

  1960

• Pre-Bird

  Mercury

  1960

• Jazz Portraits: Mingus in Wonderland

  Blue Note

  1959

• Weary Blues

  Polygram

  1958

• A Modern Jazz Symposium of Music and Poetry

  Bethlehem Music Company, Inc. / Rhino/WEA

  1957

• Scenes in the City

  Affinity

  1957

• Chazz

  1955

• Jazzical Moods, Vol. 2

  Period

  1955

• Jazz Collaborations

  Debut

  1955

• Intrusions

  Drive Archive

  1954

• The Jazz Experiments of Charles Mingus

  Avenue (Rhino) / Rhino

  1954

• Jazzical Moods, Vol. 1

  Period

  1954

• Moods of Mingus

  Savoy

  1954

• Strings and Keys

  Debut

  1952