Charles Mingus Biography, Photos and Posters

Charles Mingus

Biography

Born: April 22, 1922
Hometown: Nogales, AZ
Instrument: Bass
Music Training: early teachers were Red Callender, ex-New York Philharmonic bassist Herman Rheinschagen, studied composition with Lloyd Reese
Bands and Orchestras: Barney Bigard, Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Red Norvo trio,
Signature Song:
Charles Mingus bio: The man considered by many to be the greatest Jazz bassist of all time was born in an army camp in Mexico. He was raised in the Watts district of Los Angeles where he showed an early interest in music trying to learn to play the trombone at the age of 6 and then the cello, but wound up on the double bass by the time he reached high school. This bass prodigy worked with Kid Ory in Barney Bigard's group in 1942, and toured with Louis Armstrong the following year. He worked with Lionel Hampton from 1947-48, and backed various R&B and jazz performers under the name Baron Von Mingus. After attracting national attention while working with Red Norvo's trio and Tal Farlow in 1950-51, he moved to New York where he worked with several jazz notables including Billy Taylor, Stan Getz and Art Tatum. In 1953 he appeared at the Massey Hall concert in Toronto along with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell and Max Roach. In 1952 he founded Debut Records recording a wide range of jazz and bebop artists. He was famous for using his large and intimidating stature as a means of bullying people. This along with his emotional outbursts earned Mingus a lot of enemies as well as fans along the way. He earned the dubious distinction of being the only musician to be fired by jazz great Duke Ellington, who was perhaps his greatest music influence. His early compositions were mostly written out in a classical fashion, but along the way he learned how to incorporate his unconventional visions into his work while allowing performers enough leeway to do their own thing. He was also an accomplished pianist and could easily have made his mark on that instrument. He recorded over 100 albums and composed over 300 scores. Many of his works reflect his feelings towards both the racial and political unrest that existed during his life like: Fables of Faubus" (about the Arkansas governor who tried to keep Little Rock schools segregated), Oh Lord, Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me" and "Remember Rockefeller at Attica." He toured extensively through Europe, Japan, Canada, South America and the United States until 1977 when he was diagnosed with the nerve disease Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis. He died in Cuernavaca, Mexico and had his ashes scattered in the Ganges River in India. In 1993 the Charles Mingus Collection was presented to the Library of Congress.
Died: January 5, 1979
Links to sites of interest about Charles Mingus:
http://www.mingusmingusmingus.com/Mingus/
http://afgen.com/charles_mingus.html

Search Site by Artist:

Create search engine for website.