(Avant-Garde, Post-Bop, Hard Bop) Charles Mingus - Tonight at Noon - 1961, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Jazz, like anyother art form,renews itself periodically through the creative efforts of its greater and lesser innovators. Since our view of history is, of necessity, one of retrospect, we tend to describe to this process of renewal a certain historical inevitability, and with the benefit of hindsight, we sit comfortably back and declare "genius will out." Though this is largelytrue,sucha long range historic view is alittle like looking through the wrong end of atelescope: it barelytakes into account the subtle interchanges of friction and resistance between innovator and audience; it ignores the details of the every-daystruggle by which the artist maintains himself despite the subjective whims and fancies of the public; it obscures the fact that major figures are often ignored for amazinglylong periods, only to be lionized when it is almost too late, while others are catapulted to fame prematurely. In this helter-skelter scheme of things,the weak go under and onlythe strong survive. Certainlyone of the strongest is Charlie Mingus. Mingus is more than a major jazz talent; he is acreative force,acreative power which, without benefit of outside musical sources,resides securelyin the jazz mainstream and has the capacityto propel atotal conception of jazz which is greater than merelythe sum of its parts (and individuals). As such Mingus' music looms large todayas not onlyone of the few genuine links to past traditions, especiallythat of Duke Ellington, but also as asignificant intimation of things to come. Mingus is one of the few real masters of the bass in jazz history. His extraordinary facility, his clear tone and infectious beat are in themselves sufficient to assure him aplace of high honor in that particular hall of fame. But what makes Mingus unique is that these talents are coupled with the gifts of agenuine composer, not an occasional writer of tunes, not an arranger, but acomposer whose imagination encompasses atotal musical vision. The significance of this vision is not merelythat it is original, but that it is meaningful and applicable to other musicians. Jazz is primarily a player's.an improvisor's music. The composer in jazz,byand large, occupies ararer though not necessarily lesser place. Thus the most common influence from one generation to the next occurs in rather specific instrumental and stylistic terms, with the result that imitators abound. Rarely does an innovator come along whose conception transcends such specifics. When he does, he is almost without fail a great composer. It is a measure of Mingus' contribution that he is not imitated - indeed Irather think he can't be. Even his bass playing, though it has influenced certain younger players in some external instrumental aspects, has induced no imitators. And yet countless musicians have functioned in the compositional contexts conjured up by Mingus. Like Ellington, Mingus composes with his orchestra; the orchestra becomes an extension of his improvisational-compositional vision. Like Ellington, Mingus incorporates the individual talents of his players in the final product in aconstructive way. Like Ellington at the piano, Mingus "feeds" the orchestra with his impelling beat, his personal magnetism, and the intensityof his on-the-spur-of-the-moment exhortations. This is, of course,in the best traditions of jazz and its African pre-history. It also provides the most significant approach towards assimilating the acquisitions of the last decade in jazz. The performances presented here were recorded on two separate occasions, some four years apart. As might be expected the instrumentation, mood and material vary somewhat. The 1961 date presents Mingus in aballad and blues context. "Old" Blues For Walt's Torin is very earthy blues indeed, with an unquestionable Mingus flavor, especially in the opening-and-closing collective ensembles. Invisible Lady suggests at least two allusions to Ellington: one, its title, which perpetuates Duke's famous gallery of female portraits; and second,the piece is avehicle for Knepper's elegant fleet trombone, not so far removed here from Ellington's great fellow-portraitist Lawrence Brown. Kirk is the main soloist on Peggy's Blue Skylight,atypically haunting Mingus theme, which also provides solo space for Booker Ervin (directly before Mingus' piano solo). For the remaining titles (from 1957) Mingus is back on bass,feeding and driving the ensembles, boosting the soloists, building climaxes - in short, composing extempore, with the remarkable Dannie Richmond never far behind. Mingus' stylistic range is so broad as to encompass, in both pieces, a formidable amount of diverse musical material. One is not surprised to find that on Tonight At Noon,"hard-bop" figures and near Eastern melismata(as enigmatic as the composition's title) co-exist effortlessly, with onlyMingus' ostinato bass as a common ground. Similarly, Passions Of A Woman Loved includes astring of tempo and meter changes.widelycontrasting moods,free-tempocadenzas,Spanish dance rhythms.and even awaltz. Mingus was at this time embarked on acrusade to revive jazz dancing, and to this end took ajob at aBrooklyn club which had adance floor, it was not long before dance contests developed, and Passions Of A Woman Loved, with its abrupt changes of pace, was designed to stump the fantastic dancers that competed in these contests.