Charles Mingus "Mingus Ah Um" (1959)
Album Information
Artist: Charles Mingus
Release Date: August 1959
Label: Columbia (US)
It was ranked 380th in the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2020 Edition)".
Member Impressions
The End End
I might actually love this... It's great that it doesn't go too far while staying right on the edge. The arrangement, performance, and recording all have a mood that balances sophistication and unconventionality, making it a work I can listen to in many different moods.
I'd heard that Mingus was a major reference for Radiohead's "Kid A" and "Amnesiac," and though I'd missed the chance to listen to him until now, finally doing so was fun. I found several moments that even I could appreciate, like the drum sound design and the way the dry horn long tones overlap.
Komei
I groaned at "Better Get It in Your Soul." It has a suspicious progression, but for some reason, I didn't want to stop the track. It wasn't just scary; it was filled with tension. I experienced a sensation of moving forward with excitement rather than nervousness. I listened through to the end of the album in that same flow. That is the kind of album it was.
Sakurako
I love this! It's noisy and excessive from the very beginning, and it's fun and happy to be so warmly welcomed! Even though I'm listening to jazz, I felt something similar to when I listen to J-POP! It's exciting! Even if you listen casually, there's enough variation in the tracks that you can understand there's a structure, so I never got bored! It seems like it would be easy to listen to even for people who aren't into jazz.
Shunsuke
It's the same as that time I had such a scary dream, but when I tried to tell my friends about it, they couldn't really understand it.
It jumps, it varies in tempo, sometimes it enters a back alley and runs away, always running away. When I think I'm about to understand, I don't, and when I think I don't understand, I understand for a moment. It's always running away from something. I don't even know if the root of that is an escape from racial destiny or an escape from Western scales. I'm the one tilting my head at "ah um."
In the end, after being left behind without understanding anything, what remains is the hallway on a regular school day sandwiched between the cleanup days of a school festival. The sweltering frenzy passes in an instant, and before you know it, you're back to the usual scenery. The lingering heat brought by modal jazz also falls into that category.
Shonan Gal
It's just so much fun to listen to. My brain feels like it's going to explode. It keeps moving forward without me being able to imagine what will happen next. Disparate elements are flying around, separating, sticking together, increasing, and decreasing as they please. You'd think that would lead to chaos, but they share the same groove and never lose their cohesion. I love patchwork-style works that make heavy use of sampling (like J Dilla or The Avalanches), and I feel like I've caught a glimpse of their progenitor. I'm happy to have encountered an album so early on that I'll likely have a long relationship with. An album I'd want to take to a desert island.
Shiromike-san
It's not that they're breaking the standard form of having a theme and then solos, but you can see they are obsessed with how they present it. The arrangement is pop-like; for example, in "Fables of Faubus," the horns gather as if sneaking up, then suddenly only the trombone is left, and then the main and secondary phrases are reversed. The impressive phrase in "Boogie Stop Shuffle" is always being played, but they create breadth by pulling out and putting back the unison. There's simply a large number of horns, but because the elements are rearranged by changing hands, it never gets boring. I felt there was a clear listener perspective.
P.S.
I was listening to this album on Spotify, and it seems like everything after "Pedal Point Blues" is a bonus track! I mean, the original is shorter, but it seems like when it was reissued, Teo Macero edited it (as usual) and it's about 10 minutes longer! It's a good value, so I'm happy, though!
Dangozaka
The live feel, which probably wouldn't work if it were just assembling pre-prepared licks, is charming. I haven't reached the level of understanding exactly what the content is, but I can clearly read that a conversation is happening through this kind of relationship, and I think that's wonderful. I especially like the tension in "Boogie Stop Shuffle."
Negi
Several books mentioned that Radiohead referred to Charles Mingus when producing "Amnesiac," and for example, 90s post-rock, led by Tortoise's "TNT," feels like it has a jazz approach close to this work, so I thought I would easily get into "Mingus Ah Um," but I end up just letting it wash over me. However, I am enamored with the technique itself of forcibly bringing performances that could easily become cluttered to a stage where it is "possible to just let them wash over you."
Misezaki
I often find myself thinking that there might not be a melody that surpasses "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat." A song that penetrates so deeply into the heart and touches the soul like this is what you would call a true masterpiece. I just love it too much. The year '23 was a time when I lost a few things forever. It brings back those things in a sudden flashback and makes me feel a sense of nostalgia; it's a song that evokes such feelings. (Sorry for the personal talk.) That's how much I love this song.
I haven't really listened to other songs, but I felt this was a truly flawless work, packed with everything from groovy tracks to melodies that naturally draw you in. The greats of jazz are truly highly intelligent. I take my hat off to them. I want to continue to be influenced by them even more.
Rokugatsu
Isn't jazz just too broad? The musicality is completely different from Miles, or Coleman and Coltrane who will come up later (and it's interesting that the instruments they play beautifully are also different). Before listening, I rudely thought they were all the same, but I was made to realize how different they can be depending on the artist you listen to. Well, that's probably true for any music, whether it's rock or techno.
Personally, this is by far my favorite among the jazz albums I've listened to for this project. In literature and everything else, there are two types of people who create innovative things: intentional people who rampage and break the framework of a genre, and those who are naturally standing outside that framework from the beginning without even realizing it. I definitely prefer the latter. The trait of being a natural is charming, but there is also an unfathomable madness mixed in there. This music is catchy and has a wide variety of melodies played by many instruments, making it accessible, but I also feel that there is something beyond human intelligence lurking in those sounds. I've heard rumors that he was a very difficult person, but I'm sure if I met him, he'd be a good-natured old guy, Charles Mingus.
It was an album that made me like jazz even more. Thank you, Charles Mingus.
Wada Zuisho
Unlike Miles, there are many instruments. Also, it's quite interesting how it's clearly divided by who is the lead in each part of the song. There are phrases where they hold a note for an unbelievably long time despite being wind instruments, which makes me worry, but I really feel the seriousness of them trying to latch onto something. Conversely, it's strange and interesting that the other instruments remain calm the whole time.
When listening with earphones, the parts were blatantly separated into left and right, which was a bit uncomfortable. It might be just right when listening with speakers.
Watada
There was an easy-to-grasp rhythm and a sense of excitement, making it easy for me to listen to even though I don't listen to much jazz.
The more I listened to it, the more interesting it became as I grasped its characteristics and individuality.
The shouts echoing faintly in the distance, the detailed arrangements, and other pleasant nuances that can only be grasped by feeling on the first listen become easier to understand with repeated listens. For example, just when you think the piano or wind instruments are following the original rhythm, they are subtly arranged before you know it. The more you listen, the more you notice such parts, and you begin to understand the true nature of the joy of this music.
Also, I felt several times that just when one instrument seemed to go off-track, the other parts immediately adjusted to it, returning to a calm jazz state. It feels like order is maintained while showing the fun of instruments running wild during a session, and then firmly returning to the original music.
I think it's good to play as mood music, but it's also music that is interesting the more you get absorbed in listening to it.
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Next time, we will cover Ornette Coleman's "The Shape of Jazz to Come."
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