Bass Player, The - Charles Mingus

Advantages: Fantastic display of Jazz composition
Disadvantages: Jazz isn't for everyone

...Charles Mingus - In a Soulful Mood. Charles Mingus, also known as "The angry man of Jazz", is a fantastic jazz bassist and composer. He was born in 1922 in Arizona and picked up the Double Bass in high school. He had previously learnt to play the cello and trombone so many of his cello skills were converted to double bass. In his early years he was composing incredibly advanced jazz pieces, some of which to be recorded later on. Over his career Mingus recorded in excess of 70 records with various musicians passing through his often unconventional bands. He tended to focus on the personality, as well as the ability, of a musician to see how he would fit into the band. He ran a jazz workshop that included around 8 members and shaped musicians into unconventional ways that explored their improvisational talents. Pieces of Mingus... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: One of the greatest bassists to ever walk the planet
Disadvantages: Jazz isn't for everyone

...1987 he was ejected and made his way to the Midnight Bottle Club. He was refused entry to the club and ended in a nasty confrontation with the bouncer who left Jaco disfigured and brain dead. His family removed him from his life support machine 10 days later on September 21st 1987. The bouncer who killed Jaco was sentenced with second degree murder however only served four months of his sentence. Onto the review of the album… Introducing Jaco Pastorius is how it sounds. The album provides digitally remastered recordings of Jaco’s work. The introducing … series includes music from (at the moment) ten other Jazz musicians including John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Billy Conham and Joe Sample. The album opens on “Three Views of a Secret” and features Jaco playing the Bass, piano and synthesiser with Toots Thielemans on Harmonica and Jack De... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Some instant classics that everyone can enjoy.
Disadvantages: The second half of the album leaves much to be desired

...instrumental exercise that does nothing to keep the flow of the album moving. You almost wonder if it's included solely to appease all the fans that have been begging for more guitars. On the other end of the spectrum, we get Like Spinning Plates, another tune that just doesn't feel right among these other good tunes. There's nothing revolutionary about playing your music backwards and creating loops from it. The song is promising until Yorke's voice is - you guessed it - backwards. The album closer is called Life in a Glass House. It's jazzy - it's got that free form Charles Mingus feel that The National Anthem degenerated into on Kid A. Yorke's voice is clear for the first time, but it seems like he's intentionally trying not to sound that good. The lyrics delve into relationships and politics, two things that have been quite important to Yorke... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful