![]() He studied for five years with Herman Reinshagen, principal bassist of the New York Philharmonic, and compositional techniques with Lloyd Reese. Much of the cello technique he learned was applicable to double bass when he took up the instrument in high school. These early experiences, in addition to his lifelong confrontations with racism, were reflected in his music, which often focused on themes of racism, discrimination and (in)justice. This had a serious impact on his early musical experiences, leaving him feeling ostracized from the classical music world. ![]() ĭue to a poor education, the young Mingus could not read musical notation quickly enough to join the local youth orchestra. In Beneath the Underdog, Mingus states that he did not actually start learning bass until Buddy Collette accepted him into his swing band under the stipulation that he be the band's bass player. Despite this, Mingus was still attached to the cello as he studied bass with Red Callender in the late 1930s, Callender even commented that the cello was still Mingus's main instrument. He studied trombone, and later cello, although he was unable to follow the cello professionally because, at the time, it was nearly impossible for a black musician to make a career of classical music, and the cello was not yet accepted as a jazz instrument. His mother allowed only church-related music in their home, but Mingus developed an early love for other music, especially Duke Ellington. His father, who later changed his name to West, apparently did not have a relationship with Mingus Sr. was left with his white grandfather and great-grandparents. When Clarinda married a white man, Mingus Sr. was former slave Daniel Mingus, owned by the family of his mother Clarinda Mingus, a white woman. According to new information used to educate visitors to Mingus Mill in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, included in signs unveiled May 23, 2023, the father of Mingus Sr. or Mingus himself believed this story was true, or whether it was merely an embellished version of the Mingus family's lineage. The autobiography does not confirm whether 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 child's true father was a black slave, after which he had to run away from his family and live on his own. In Mingus's autobiography Beneath the Underdog his mother was described as "the daughter of an English/Chinese man and a South-American woman", and his father was the son "of a black farm worker and a Swedish woman". His ancestry included German American, African American, and Native American. Mingus was the great-great-great-grandson of the family's founding patriarch who was, by most accounts, a German immigrant. ![]() His maternal grandfather was a Chinese British subject from Hong Kong, and his maternal grandmother was an African-American from the southern United States. Mingus Junior was largely raised in the Watts area of Los Angeles. His father, Charles Mingus Sr., was a sergeant in the U.S. ![]() Biography Early life and career Ĭharles Mingus was born in Nogales, Arizona. In 1993, the Library of Congress acquired Mingus's collected papers-including scores, sound recordings, correspondence and photos-in what they described as "the most important acquisition of a manuscript collection relating to jazz in the Library's history". Mingus's compositions continue to be played by contemporary musicians ranging from the repertory bands Mingus Big Band, Mingus Dynasty, and Mingus Orchestra, to the high school students who play the charts and compete in the Charles Mingus High School Competition. Mingus's work ranged from advanced bebop and avant-garde jazz with small and midsize ensembles – pioneering the post-bop style on seminal recordings like Pithecanthropus Erectus (1956) and Mingus Ah Um (1959) – to progressive big band experiments such as The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963). A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians and composers in history, with a career spanning three decades and collaborations with other jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Herbie Hancock. (Ap– January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |