Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 January 5, 1979) history.[7]

was an American jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader. His compositions retained the hot and soulful
feel of hard bop, drawing heavily from black gospel mu- 1 Biography
sic and blues, while sometimes containing elements of
Third Stream, free jazz, and classical music. He once
cited Duke Ellington and church as his main inuences. 1.1 Early life and career
Mingus espoused collective improvisation, similar to the
old New Orleans jazz parades, paying particular attention
to how each band member interacted with the group as a
whole. In creating his bands, he looked not only at the
skills of the available musicians, but also their personalities. Many musicians passed through his bands and later
went on to impressive careers. He recruited talented and
sometimes little-known artists, whom he utilized to assemble unconventional instrumental congurations. As
a performer, Mingus was a pioneer in double bass technique, widely recognized as one of the instruments most
procient players.

Charles Mingus was born in Nogales, Arizona. He

was largely raised in the Watts area of Los Angeles.
His maternal grandfather was a Chinese British subject from Hong Kong, his maternal grandmother was
black. Charles Mingus Sr. was the illegitimate ospring
of an African American farmhand and his employers
white/European granddaughter. Mingus was the third
great-grandson of the familys founding partiarch who
was, by most accounts, a German immigrant. His ancestors included German American, African American,
British, Chinese, and Native American.[8][9][10] In Minguss autobiography Beneath the Underdog his mother
was described as the daughter of an Englishman and a
Chinese woman, and his father was the son of a black
farm worker and a Swedish woman. Charles Mingus Sr.
claims to have been raised by his mother and her husband as a white person until he was fourteen, when his
mother revealed to her family that the childs true father
was a black slave, after which he had to run away from
his family and live on his own. The autobiography doesn't
conrm whether Charles Mingus Sr. or Mingus himself
believed this story was true, or whether it was merely an
embellished version of the Mingus familys lineage.[11]

Nearly as well known as his ambitious music was Minguss often fearsome temperament, which earned him the
nickname The Angry Man of Jazz. His refusal to compromise his musical integrity led to many onstage eruptions, exhortations to musicians, and dismissals.[1] Because of his brilliant writing for midsize ensembles, and
his catering to and emphasizing the strengths of the musicians in his groups, Mingus is often considered the heir
of Duke Ellington, for whom he expressed great admiration. Indeed, Dizzy Gillespie had once claimed Mingus
reminded him of a young Duke, citing their shared organizational genius.[2]
His mother allowed only church-related music in their
Mingus compositions continue to be played by con- home, but Mingus developed an early love for other mutemporary musicians ranging from the repertory bands sic, especially Duke Ellington. He studied trombone, and
Mingus Big Band, Mingus Dynasty, and Mingus Or- later cello, although he was unable to follow the cello prochestra, to the high school students who play the fessionally because, at the time, it was nearly impossible
charts and compete in the Charles Mingus High School for a black musician to make a career of classical music,
and the cello was not yet accepted as a jazz instrument.
Competition.[3]
Despite this, Mingus was still attached to the cello; as he
Gunther Schuller has suggested that Mingus should be
studied bass with Red Callender in the late 1930s, Callenranked among the most important American composers,
der even commented that the cello was still Minguss main
jazz or otherwise.[4] In 1988, a grant from the National
instrument. In Beneath the Underdog, Mingus states that
Endowment for the Arts[5] made possible the cataloging
he did not actually start learning bass until Buddy Collette
of Mingus compositions, which were then donated to
accepted him into his swing band under the stipulation
the Music Division of the New York Public Library[6]
that he be the bands bass player.[11]
for public use. In 1993, The Library of Congress
acquired Minguss collected papersincluding scores, Due to a poor education, the young Mingus could not read
sound recordings, correspondence and photosin what musical notation quickly enough to join the local youth
they described as the most important acquisition of a orchestra. This had a serious impact on his early musical
manuscript collection relating to jazz in the Librarys experiences, leaving him feeling ostracized from the classical music world. These early experiences, in addition
1

1 BIOGRAPHY

to his lifelong confrontations with racism, were reected 1.2 Based in New York
in his music, which often focused on themes of racism,
discrimination and (in)justice.[10] Much of the cello technique he learned was applicable to double bass when he
took up the instrument in high school. He studied for ve
years with Herman Reinshagen, principal bassist of the
New York Philharmonic, and compositional techniques
with Lloyd Reese.[12] Throughout much of his career, he
played a bass made in 1927 by the German maker Ernst
In 1952 Mingus co-founded Debut Records with Max
Heinrich Roth.
Roach so he could conduct his recording career as he
Beginning in his teen years, Mingus was writing quite ad- saw t. The name originated from his desire to docuvanced pieces; many are similar to Third Stream because ment unrecorded young musicians. Despite this, the bestthey incorporate elements of classical music. A number known recording the company issued was of the most
of them were recorded in 1960 with conductor Gunther prominent gures in bebop. On May 15, 1953, Mingus
Schuller, and released as Pre-Bird, referring to Charlie joined Dizzy Gillespie, Parker, Bud Powell, and Roach
Bird Parker; Mingus was one of many musicians whose for a concert at Massey Hall in Toronto, which is the last
perspectives on music were altered by Parker into pre- recorded documentation of the two lead instrumentalists
and post-Bird eras.
playing together. After the event, Mingus chose to overMingus gained a reputation as a bass prodigy. His rst dub his barely audible bass part back in New York; the
major professional job was playing with former Elling- original version was issued later. The two 10 albums of
ton clarinetist Barney Bigard. He toured with Louis Arm- the Massey Hall concert (one featured the trio of Powell,
strong in 1943, and by early 1945 was recording in Los Mingus and Roach) were among Debut Records earliest
Angeles in a band led by Russell Jacquet, which also in- releases. Mingus may have objected to the way the major
cluded Teddy Edwards, Maurice Simon, Bill Davis, and record companies treated musicians, but Gillespie once
Chico Hamilton, and in May that year, in Hollywood, commented that he did not receive any royalties for years
again with Teddy Edwards, in a band led by Howard and years for his Massey Hall appearance. The records
McGhee.[13] He then played with Lionel Hampton's band though, are often regarded as among the nest live jazz
in the late 1940s; Hampton performed and recorded sev- recordings.
eral of Minguss pieces. A popular trio of Mingus, Red One story has it that Mingus was involved in a notorious
Norvo and Tal Farlow in 1950 and 1951 received consid- incident while playing a 1955 club date billed as a reerable acclaim, but Minguss race caused problems with union with Parker, Powell, and Roach. Powell, who sufclub owners and he left the group. Mingus was briey a fered from alcoholism and mental illness (possibly exacmember of Ellingtons band in 1953, as a substitute for erbated by a severe police beating and electroshock treatbassist Wendell Marshall. Minguss notorious temper led ments), had to be helped from the stage, unable to play or
to him being one of the few musicians personally red by speak coherently. As Powells incapacitation became apEllington (Bubber Miley and drummer Bobby Durham parent, Parker stood in one spot at a microphone, chantare among the others), after an on-stage ght between ing Bud Powell...Bud Powell... as if beseeching PowMingus and Juan Tizol.[14]
ells return. Allegedly, Parker continued this incantation
Also in the early 1950s, before attaining commercial
recognition as a bandleader, Mingus played gigs with
Charlie Parker, whose compositions and improvisations
greatly inspired and inuenced him. Mingus considered Parker the greatest genius and innovator in jazz history, but he had a love-hate relationship with Parkers
legacy. Mingus blamed the Parker mythology for a
derivative crop of pretenders to Parkers throne. He was
also conicted and sometimes disgusted by Parkers selfdestructive habits and the romanticized lure of drug addiction they oered to other jazz musicians. In response
to the many sax players who imitated Parker, Mingus titled a song, If Charlie Parker were a Gunslinger, There'd
be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats (released on Mingus
Dynasty as Gunslinging Bird).

for several minutes after Powells departure, to his own

amusement and Minguss exasperation. Mingus took another microphone and announced to the crowd, Ladies
and Gentleman, please don't associate me with any of
this. This is not jazz. These are sick people.[15] This
was Parkers last public performance; about a week later
he died after years of substance abuse.
Mingus often worked with a mid-sized ensemble (around
810 members) of rotating musicians known as the Jazz
Workshop. Mingus broke new ground, constantly demanding that his musicians be able to explore and develop their perceptions on the spot. Those who joined the
Workshop (or Sweatshops as they were colorfully dubbed
by the musicians) included Pepper Adams, Jaki Byard,
Booker Ervin, John Handy, Jimmy Knepper, Charles
McPherson and Horace Parlan. Mingus shaped these musicians into a cohesive improvisational machine that in
many ways anticipated free jazz. Some musicians dubbed
the workshop a university for jazz.

1.5

1.3

The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady and other Impulse! albums

Pithecanthropus Erectus among other form guys could play the same tune twice, then I would
say they were playing something...Most of the time they
creations

The decade that followed is generally regarded as Minguss most productive and fertile period. Impressive
new compositions and albums appeared at an astonishing rate: some thirty records in ten years, for a number of record labels (Atlantic Records, Candid, Columbia
Records, Impulse! Records and others), a pace perhaps
unmatched by any other musicians except Ellington.
Mingus had already recorded around ten albums as a bandleader, but 1956 was a breakthrough year for him, with
the release of Pithecanthropus Erectus, arguably his rst
major work as both a bandleader and composer. Like
Ellington, Mingus wrote songs with specic musicians
in mind, and his band for Erectus included adventurous
musicians: piano player Mal Waldron, alto saxophonist
Jackie McLean and the Sonny Rollins-inuenced tenor
of J. R. Monterose. The title song is a ten-minute tone
poem, depicting the rise of man from his hominid roots
(Pithecanthropus erectus) to an eventual downfall. A section of the piece was free improvisation, free of structure
or theme.
Another album from this period, The Clown (1957 also
on Atlantic Records), the title track of which features narration by humorist Jean Shepherd, was the rst to feature drummer Dannie Richmond, who remained his preferred drummer until Minguss death in 1979. The two
men formed one of the most impressive and versatile
rhythm sections in jazz. Both were accomplished performers seeking to stretch the boundaries of their music
while staying true to its roots. When joined by pianist
Jaki Byard, they were dubbed The Almighty Three.[16]

1.4

Mingus Ah Um and other works

In 1959 Mingus and his jazz workshop musicians

recorded one of his best-known albums, Mingus Ah Um.
Even in a year of standout masterpieces, including Dave
Brubeck's Time Out, Miles Davis's Kind of Blue, and
Ornette Coleman's prophetic The Shape of Jazz to Come,
this was a major achievement, featuring such classic Mingus compositions as Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (an elegy
to Lester Young) and the vocal-less version of Fables of
Faubus (a protest against segregationist Arkansas governor Orval E. Faubus that features double-time sections).
Also during 1959, Mingus recorded the album Blues &
Roots, which was released the following year. As Mingus
explained in his liner notes: I was born swinging and
clapped my hands in church as a little boy, but I've grown
up and I like to do things other than just swing. But blues
can do more than just swing.
Mingus witnessed Ornette Coleman's legendaryand
controversial1960 appearances at New York Citys
Five Spot jazz club. He initially expressed rather mixed
feelings for Colemans innovative music: "...if the free-

use their ngers on the saxophone and they don't even

know whats going to come out. They're experimenting. That same year, however, Mingus formed a quartet with Richmond, trumpeter Ted Curson and multiinstrumentalist Eric Dolphy. This ensemble featured the
same instruments as Colemans quartet, and is often regarded as Mingus rising to the challenging new standard
established by Coleman. Charles Mingus Presents Charles
Mingus was the quartets only album. This album also features the version of Fables of Faubus with lyrics, aptly
titled Original Faubus Fables.
Only one misstep occurred in this era: 1962s Town Hall
Concert. An ambitious program, it was plagued with troubles from its inception.[17] Minguss vision, now known
as Epitaph, was nally realized by conductor Gunther
Schuller in a concert in 1989, 10 years after Minguss
death.

1.5

The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady

and other Impulse! albums

In 1963, Mingus released The Black Saint and the Sinner

Lady, a sprawling, multi-section masterpiece, described
as one of the greatest achievements in orchestration by
any composer in jazz history.[18] The album was also
unique in that Mingus asked his psychotherapist to provide notes for the record.
Mingus also released Mingus Plays Piano, an unaccompanied album featuring some fully improvised pieces, in
1963.
In addition, 1963 saw the release of Mingus Mingus
Mingus Mingus Mingus, an album praised by critic Nat
Hento.[19]
In 1964 Mingus put together one of his best-known
groups, a sextet including Dannie Richmond, Jaki Byard,
Eric Dolphy, trumpeter Johnny Coles, and tenor saxophonist Cliord Jordan. The group was recorded frequently during its short existence; Coles fell ill and left
during a European tour. Dolphy stayed in Europe after
the tour ended, and died suddenly in Berlin on June 28,
1964. 1964 was also the year that Mingus met his future wife, Sue Graham Ungaro. The couple were married
in 1966 by Allen Ginsberg.[20] Facing nancial hardship,
Mingus was evicted from his New York home in 1966.

1.6

Changes

Minguss pace slowed somewhat in the late 1960s and

early 1970s. In 1974 he formed a quintet with Richmond, pianist Don Pullen, trumpeter Jack Walrath and
saxophonist George Adams. They recorded two wellreceived albums, Changes One and Changes Two. Mingus also played with Charles McPherson in many of his

LEGACY

tooth and its underlying stub.[26] According to Knepper,

this ruined his embouchure and resulted in the permanent loss of the top octave of his range on the trombone
a signicant handicap for any professional trombonist. This attack temporarily ended their working relationship and Knepper was unable to perform at the concert.
Charged with assault, Mingus appeared in court in January 1963 and was given a suspended sentence. Knepper
did again work with Mingus in 1977 and played exten1.7 Later career and death
sively with the Mingus Dynasty, formed after Minguss
By the mid-1970s, Mingus was suering from death in 1979.[27]
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). His once formidable In 1966, Mingus was evicted from his apartment at 5
bass technique suered, until he could no longer play Great Jones Street in New York City for nonpayment
the instrument. He continued composing, however, and of rent, captured in the 1968 documentary lm Mingus:
supervised a number of recordings before his death. At Charlie Mingus 1968, directed by Thomas Reichman.
the time of his death, he was working with Joni Mitchell The lm also features Mingus performing in clubs and
on an album eventually titled Mingus, which included in the apartment, ring a shotgun, composing at the pilyrics added by Mitchell to his compositions, including ano, playing with and taking care of his young daughter
"Goodbye Pork Pie Hat". The album featured the Caroline, and discussing love, art, politics, and the music
talents of Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and another school he had hoped to create.[28]
inuential bassist and composer, Jaco Pastorius.
According to writer Harlan Ellison, in a story told on his
Mingus died, aged 56, in Cuernavaca, Mexico, where he YouTube channel Harlan Ellison on Jazz, during the
had traveled for treatment and convalescence. His ashes early 1960s while working at The Showplace in Greenwere scattered in the Ganges River.
wich Village, Ellison witnessed a jam session involving
Mingus, Charles Evans, Don Cherry and Eric Dolphy, in
which Mingus punched Dolphy on the forehead, after the
saxophone player had blown a really sour note on the sax2 Personality and temper
ophone. When Dolphy came round, he was sporting the
lump on his forehead which can be seen in photos taken
As respected as Mingus was for his musical talents, he
during his later years. Ellison also tells how, later that
was sometimes feared for his occasionally violent onnight, Dolphy played so well that Mingus approached him
stage temper, which was at times directed at members
again, planting a kiss on his lips instead.
of his band, and other times aimed at the audience.[22]
He was physically large, prone to obesity (especially in
his later years), and was by all accounts often intimidating and frightening when expressing anger or displea- 3 Legacy
sure. Mingus was prone to clinical depression. He tended
to have brief periods of extreme creative activity, inter- 3.1 The Mingus Big Band
mixed with fairly long periods of greatly decreased output.
The music of Charles Mingus is currently being perWhen confronted with a nightclub audience talking and formed and reinterpreted by the Mingus Big Band, which,
clinking ice in their glasses while he performed, Mingus starting October 2008, plays every Monday at Jazz Stanstopped his band and loudly chastised the audience, stat- dard in New York City, and often tours the rest of the
ing "Isaac Stern doesn't have to put up with this shit.[23] U.S. and Europe. Elvis Costello has written lyrics for a
Mingus reportedly destroyed a $20,000 bass in response few Mingus pieces. He had once sung lyrics for one piece,
Invisible Lady, being backed by the Mingus Big Band
to audience heckling at New Yorks Five Spot.[24]
on the album, Tonight at Noon: Three of Four Shades of
Guitarist and singer Jackie Paris was a rst-hand witness Love.[29]
to Minguss irascibility. Paris recalls his time in the Jazz
Workshop: He chased everybody o the stand except In addition to the Mingus Big Band, there is the Mingus
[drummer] Paul Motian and me... The three of us just Orchestra and the Mingus Dynasty, each of which are
wailed on the blues for about an hour and a half before he managed by Jazz Workshop, Inc., and run by Minguss
widow Sue Graham Mingus.
called the other cats back.[25]
groups during this time. Cumbia and Jazz Fusion in 1976
sought to blend Colombian music (the "Cumbia" of the
title) with more traditional jazz forms. In 1971, Mingus
taught for a semester at the University at Bualo, The
State University of New York as the Slee Professor of
Music.[21]

On October 12, 1962, Mingus punched Jimmy Knepper

in the mouth while the two men were working together at 3.2 Epitaph
Minguss apartment on a score for his upcoming concert
at New York Town Hall and Knepper refused to take on Epitaph is considered one of Charles Minguss mastermore work. The blow from Mingus broke o a crowned pieces. The composition is 4,235 measures long, requires

3.5

Awards and honors

two hours to perform, and is one of the longest jazz pieces

ever written. Epitaph was only completely discovered, by
musicologist Andrew Homzy, during the cataloging process after his death. With the help of a grant from the
Ford Foundation, the score and instrumental parts were
copied, and the piece itself was premiered by a 30-piece
orchestra, conducted by Gunther Schuller. This concert
was produced by Minguss widow, Sue Graham Mingus,
at Alice Tully Hall on June 3, 1989, ten years after his
death. It was performed again at several concerts in 2007.
The performance at Walt Disney Concert Hall is available
on NPR. The complete score was published in 2008 by
Hal Leonard.

3.3

5
Elvis Costello has recorded Hora Decubitus (from
Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus) on My Flame
Burns Blue (2006). Better Git It in Your Soul was
covered by Davey Graham on his album Folk, Blues,
and Beyond. Trumpeter Ron Miles performs a version
of Pithecanthropus Erectus on his EP Witness. New
York Ska Jazz Ensemble has done a cover of Minguss
Haitian Fight Song, as have the British folk rock group
Pentangle and others. Hal Willner's 1992 tribute album Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus (Columbia
Records) contains idiosyncratic renditions of Minguss
works involving numerous popular musicians including
Chuck D, Keith Richards, Henry Rollins and Dr. John.
The Italian band Quintorigo recorded an entire album devoted to Minguss music, titled Play Mingus.

Autobiography

Gunther Schuller's edition of Minguss Epitaph which

premiered at Lincoln Center in 1989 was subsequently
Mingus wrote the sprawling, exaggerated, quasi- released on Columbia/Sony Records.
autobiography, Beneath the Underdog: His World as One of the ultimate tributes to Mingus came on SeptemComposed by Mingus,[11] throughout the 1960s, and it ber 29, 1969, at a festival honoring him. Duke Ellington
was published in 1971. Its stream of consciousness performed The Clown at the festival. Duke himself did
style covered several aspects of his life that had previ- Jean Shepherd's narration. As of this date, this recording
ously been o-record. In addition to his musical and has not been issued.
intellectual proliferation, Mingus goes into great detail
about his perhaps overstated sexual exploits. He claims
to have had more than 31 aairs in the course of his 3.5 Awards and honors
life (including 26 prostitutes in one sitting). This does
not include any of his ve wives (he claims to have been
1971 Guggenheim Fellowship (Music Composimarried to two of them simultaneously). In addition, he
tion).
asserts that he held a brief career as a pimp. This has
never been conrmed.
1971: Inducted in the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.
Minguss autobiography also serves as an insight into his
psyche, as well as his attitudes about race and society.[30]
It includes accounts of abuse at the hands of his father
from an early age, being bullied as a child, his removal
from a white musicians union, and grappling with disapproval while married to white women and other examples
of the hardship and prejudice.[31]

3.4

Cover versions

Considering the number of compositions that Charles

Mingus wrote, his works have not been recorded as often as comparable jazz composers. The only Mingus
tribute albums recorded during his lifetime were baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams's album, Pepper Adams
Plays Charlie Mingus, in 1963, and Joni Mitchell's album Mingus, in 1979. Of all his works, his elegant elegy
for Lester Young, "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" (from Mingus
Ah Um) has probably had the most recordings. Besides
recordings from the expected jazz artists, the song has
also been recorded by musicians as disparate as Je Beck,
Andy Summers, Eugene Chadbourne, and Bert Jansch
and John Renbourn with and without Pentangle. Joni
Mitchell sang a version with lyrics that she wrote for the
song.

1988: The National Endowment for the Arts provided grants for a Mingus nonprot called Let My
Children Hear Music which cataloged all of Minguss works. The microlms of these works were
given to the Music Division of the New York Public Library where they are currently available for
study.[5]
1993: The Library of Congress acquired Minguss
collected papersincluding scores, sound recordings, correspondence and photosin what they described as the most important acquisition of a
manuscript collection relating to jazz in the Librarys history.[32]
1995: The United States Postal Service issued a
stamp in his honor.
1997: Posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime
Achievement Award.
1999: Album Mingus Dynasty (1959) inducted in
the Grammy Hall of Fame.
2005: Inducted in the Jazz at Lincoln Center, Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame.

Discography

REFERENCES

[11] Mingus, Charles: Beneath the Underdog: His Life as Composed by Mingus. New York, NY: Vintage, 1991.

Main article: Charles Mingus discography

[12] Charles Mingus | Charles Baron Mingus: West Coast,

194549. Allaboutjazz.com. February 1, 2001. Retrieved October 8, 2009.

[13] Jazz Discography Project. Charles Mingus Catalog at

JazzDisc.org. Jazzdisco.org. Retrieved October 8, 2009.

Filmography
1959, Mingus contributed most of the music
for John Cassavetes's gritty New York City lm
Shadows.
1961, Mingus appeared as a bassist and actor in the
British lm All Night Long.
1968, Thomas Reichman directed the documentary
Mingus: Charlie Mingus 1968

[14] Hento, Nat (1978). Jazz Is. W. H. Allen. pp. 3435.

[15] Santoro, Gene. Myself When I Am Real: The Life and
Music of Charles Mingus. New York: Oxford UP, 2000.
Print.
[16] Saying Something: Jazz Improvisation and Interaction, Ingrid Monson (University of Chicago Press, 1997) ISBN
0-226-53478-2
[17] Gene Santoro (June 6, 2000). Town Hall Train Wreck.

The Village Voice. Retrieved July 23, 2015.

1991, Ray Davies produced a documentary entitled
Weird Nightmare. It contains footage of Mingus and
[18] Review at Allmusic, by Steve Huey. Retrieved December
interviews with artists making Hal Willner's tribute
5, 20115.
album of the same name, including Elvis Costello,
Charlie Watts, Keith Richards, and Vernon Reid.
[19] Hento, Nat (1963). Liner Notes, Mingus Mingus Mingus

Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog is a 78minute long documentary lm on Charles Mingus
directed by Don McGlynn and released in 1998.

References

[1] Jon Pareles, An irrepressible '65 Mingus concert, The

New York Times, September 23, 1984.
[2] David Simpson. Myself When I Am Real: The Life and
Music of Charles Mingus, by Gene Santoro. Jazz Institute of Chicago book review. Retrieved March 25, 2008.
[3] Ernest Barteldes (February 18, 2009). Thirty Years On,
The Music Remains Strong; Charles Minguss legacy revisited at the Manhattan School of Music. nypress.com.
Retrieved October 26, 2009.
[4] See the 1998 documentary Triumph of the Underdog
[5] NEA press release
[6] NYPL catalog page.
[7] Library of Congress Acquires Charles Mingus Collection, June 11, 1993. Library of Congress press release.
[8] Gene Santoro, Myself When I am Real: The Life and Music of Charles Mingus (Oxford University Press, 1994),
ISBN 0-19-509733-5
[9] Jenkins, Todd (2006). I Know What I Know: The Music
of Charles Mingus. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 5.
[10] Horton, Ernest Aaron (2007). Charles Mingus and the
Paradoxical Aspects of Race as Reected in His Life and
Music (PDF). Doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved October 11, 2011.

Mingus Mingus.
[20] Jazz. AllAboutJazz.com. January 5, 1979. Retrieved
October 8, 2009.
[21] The Musical Styles of Charles Mingus, (Warner Bros. Publications, Jazz Workshop, 1982)
[22] Wynn, Ron; Katz, Mike (1994), Ron Wynn, ed., All Music
Guide to Jazz, M. Erlewine, V. Bogdanov, San Francisco:
Miller Freeman, p. 461, ISBN 0-87930-308-5
[23] Sue Graham Mingus (2003). Tonight at Noon. p. 22.
[24] Wynn, Ron (1994), Jazz Venues, in Ron Wynn, All Music Guide to Jazz, M. Erlewine, V. Bogdanov, San Francisco: Miller Freeman, p. 717, ISBN 0-87930-308-5
[25] Will Friedwald. Paris When He Sizzles. Village Voice.
[26] Santoro, 2000.
[27] Voce, Steve (June 16, 2003). Jimmy Knepper Obituaries, News. The Independent (London). Archived from
the original on September 3, 2010. Retrieved October 8,
2009.
[28] Mingus 1968. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
[29] Tonight at Noon: Three of Four Shades of Love. Album
overview on Allmusic.
[30] Ratli, Ben (January 18, 1998). JAZZ VIEW; Hearing
Mingus Again, Seeing Him Anew The. The New York
Times. Retrieved October 8, 2009.
[31] Jazz: Beneath the Underdog. Time. October 2, 1964.
Retrieved October 8, 2009.
[32] Library of Congress press release, June 11, 1993. Rule,
S. Library of Congress buys Charles Mingus Archive,
The New York Times, June 14, 1993.

Further reading
Charles Mingus, Beneath the Underdog, his autobiography, presents a vibrantly boastful and possibly
apocryphal account of his early career as a pimp.
Gene Santoro, Myself When I Am Real: The Life
and Music of Charles Mingus, Oxford University
Press (November 1, 2001), 480 pages, ISBN 0-19514711-1
Brian Priestley, Mingus: A Critical Biography, Da
Capo Press (April 1, 1984), 340 pages, ISBN 0-30680217-1
Sue Graham Mingus, Tonight at Noon: A Love
Story,Da Capo Press; reprint (April 2003), 272
pages, ISBN 0-306-81220-7. Written by his widow.
Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus More Than a
Fake Book, Hal Leonard Corporation (November 1,
1991), 160 pages, ISBN 0-7935-0900-9. Includes
2 CDs, photos, discography, music transcriptions, a
Mingus comic book promoting his anti-bootlegging
project, and so on.
Janet Coleman, Al Young, Mingus/Mingus: Two
Memoirs, Limelight Editions (August 1, 2004), 164
pages, ISBN 0-87910-149-0
Todd S. Jenkins, I Know What I Know: The Music of
Charles Mingus, Praeger (2006), 196 pages, ISBN
0-275-98102-9
Geo Dyer, But Beautiful: A Book About Jazz, Abacus (2006), pp. 103127, ISBN 0-349-11005-0

External links
Ocial website
Charles Mingus at DMOZ
What Is a Jazz ComposerLiner notes from Let
My Children Hear Music by Charles Mingus.
Charles Mingus by Nat Hento
MINGUS!sonic.net
Charles Mingus multimedia directory Kerouac Alley
Charles Mingus: Requiem for the Underdog by Alan
Goldsher
Charles Mingus at the Internet Movie Database

9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1

Text

Charles Mingus Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Mingus?oldid=702551082 Contributors: Eloquence, Mav, Ortolan88, Infrogmation, Paul Barlow, Kku, Gabbe, Sheldon Rampton, Ellywa, Stan Shebs, TUF-KAT, Basswulf, SeanO, Jonik, RodC, Trontonian,
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