Mingus & Me

One of the albums I bought when first the jazz bug bit was Charles Mingus, Three or Four Shades of Blue.  At the time I was very interested in jazz guitar.  The album appealed to me chiefly because of the presence of Larry Coryell, Philip Catherine, and John Scofield.  I can't say that I really had any clue about Mingus at the time and anyway the album is a pretty atypical in the selection of instruments.  It has a much more seventies, fusion feel than one associates with Mingus.  

However, it is pure Mingus in the power of the arrangements.  This album was also the beginning of an enduring love for Mingus' composition 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.'  I have uploaded that song.  Here is the solo order for that one song, thanks to Discogs:

Soloist [1st] – George Mraz Soloist [2nd] – Larry Coryell Soloist [3rd] – Philip Catherine Soloist [4th] – George Coleman Soloist [5th] – Charles Mingus Soloist [6th] – Larry Coryell, Philip Catherine

Meanwhile, I have been yearning to do another post on Booker Ervin.  Ervin was a wonderful tenor player with a fine number of recordings that no one but yours truly seems to know about.  I won't do it now, but I did post MDM (Monk, Duke, and Me) from Mingus' album Mingus.  Here is the lineup:

• Bass – Charles Mingus
• Clarinet [Bass] – Eric Dolphy (tracks: A1)
• Drums – Danny Richmond*
• Piano – Nico Bunick* (tracks: A1), Paul Bley (tracks: B2)
• Saxophone – Charlie McPherson* (tracks: A1)
• Saxophone [Alto] – Eric Dolphy
• Saxophone [Tenor] – Booker Ervin (tracks: A1)
• Trombone – Britt Woodman (tracks: A1), Jimmy Knepper (tracks: A1)
• Trumpet – Lonnie Hillyer (tracks: A1), Ted Curson

Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

For me, this is the composition that keeps on giving. All these years after I first heard it on John McLaughlin's album (see my earlier post), it still raises the hairs on the back of neck. Charlie Mingus' incomparable homage to Lester Young is my favorite jazz melody. It's been given lyrics at least a couple of times. I can't listen to it without remembering Joni Mitchell's words:

When Charlie
speaks of Lester,
You know someone
great has gone.
That swingin'
sweetest music man,
had a Porky Pig Hat on.

This blog, which I started with the idea of building a library of comments around Miles Davis, has wandered a bit. I have focused on a lot of avant garde recordings, and some pretty obscure and challenging ones at that. There was a time when I was contemptuous of such things. No more. This last week I acquired a duet album with Steve Lacy on soprano sax and Eric Watson on piano. It's classic Lacy: melancholy and ponderous. But I can't tear myself away from it. And it has a haunting interpretation of Goodbye Pork Pie Hat. The disc isn't easy to come by, but they have it on eMusic. Here it is:

Steve Lacy & Eric Watson/Goodbye Pork Pie Hat/Spirit of Mingus

This is a jazz gourmet tasting a splendid meal. I love the way the horn and piano divide the melody up, with Lacy stating it twice in different moods, and the Watson moving on to the second movement. Check out the whole thing.

Here is the original recording from Mingus Ah Um. Booker Ervin, whom I have celebrated frequently on these pages, plays tenor on the album.

Charles Mingus/Goodbye Pork Pie Hat/Mingus Ah Um

Mingus produced a magnificent album. He doesn't hog the stage. You'd be hard put, if you didn't know, that the bass was in charge. The horns are all elvish magic. If this isn't in your library, you don't have a library.

Here is another take, from YouTube. Mingus on bass, Gerry Mulligan on baritone sax. Montreux, 1975.

Best Jazz Compositions 3: Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

In no particular order (except putting 'Round Midnight' first) my third best-in-house-jazz-composition is 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat,' Charlie Mingus' homage to Lester Young. Back when I was trying, unsuccessfully, to learn to pay the guitar, I sort of learned to play this song. I have always found the melody irresistible. It appears first, I believe, on Mingus' magnum opus: Mingus Ah Um. That version is superb, and very easy to find. Another excellent version can be found on Joni Mitchell's Mingus, her homage to that Wolf Larson of jazz. Mitchell wrote lyrics.

When Charlie
speaks of Lester,
You know someone
great has gone.
That swingin'
sweetest music man,
had a Porky Pig Hat on.

Not bad. But the version I tried to learn to play was transcribed by a very patient guitar teacher from a rather obscure album by John McLaughlin: My Goals Beyond. Here's McLaughlin's cover of Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.