The Pianist and the Bassist- Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus

Jazz musicians continue this week as I listened to music by some famous jazz pianists Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus.

Duke Ellington was born in 1899 in Washington D.C. to a secure middle-class family. His family encouraged Ellington to develop and express his musical side and he started playing the piano at the age of 7. During high school he became engrossed in his musical studies. He received an award to attend music school, but he decided not to go and instead went to New York and began performing in nightclubs. He began performing professionally at the age of 17. He led a sextet that grew into a 10-piece ensemble. Ellington had a gift for enthusing his performers to perform their best and showcasing his soloists’ special talents. The solos of his trombonists and trumpeter influenced his “jungle style” in Ellington’s early works. As Ellington’s group grew in fame he had the best of the best in his band and they traveled all over the world. They toured Europe, Asia, South America, West Africa, Australia and North America. Over the years Ellington produced a wide variety of music that was simply amazing. He led the band up until shortly before his death. He was such a great band leader that he had a member in his band for 47 years. He is one of the great jazz musicians and band leaders of all time.

Charles Mingus was also a pianist, but was also a bassist. His musical taste was influenced by church music. He was trained in classical music and composition. His other great influence was listening to the greats of jazz. He toured with some of the greats in the jazz world. He settled in New York and played in some of the up and coming jazz bands and he developed into a great bandleader as well as a phenomenal pianist. He also founded the “Jazz Workshop” which was a group that let young musicians record and perform their music. Over the years Mingus composed over 300 scores and recorded over 100 albums. Mingus traveled extensively throughout Europe, Japan, South America, Canada, and the United States. He stopped touring 1977 when he was diagnosed with a rare nerve disease and was confined to a wheelchair for the final years of his life. He still composed music up until the end even though he couldn’t write or compose at a piano. His final works were sung into a recording device. When Mingus died he was mourned by many. His music is still listened and admired today.

This week I listened to Duke Ellington’s C Jam Blues and Take the “A” Train. In C Jam Blues I like the way the soloist all jive together and they fit together very well. It is great to hear good musicians jive together. In Take the “A” Train I love how well he plays. It sounds great and is nice to listen to when you are trying to relax. He is a great musician to listen him just soloing and it is also great to listen to his groups performing because of how he brings outs the best in all his soloists.

I also listened to some Mingus music to go along with this post. I listened to a solo done by Mingus. He has a good groove and sounds so cool. He also plays well in a big band setting. His playing is so cool, the things he can do just surprise me. It makes me wish I could play a bass at all and as well as Mingus. All of his music I listened to was phenomenal.

Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus are two greats in the jazz world. If you like jazz at all I would recommend listening to these two artists.

For more info please see:
http://www.biography.com/articles/Duke-Ellington-9286338
http://www.mingusmingusmingus.com/Mingus/index.html
Pictures from:
http://rhapsodyinbooks.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/duke_ellington_03.jpg
http://www.africanafrican.com/negroartist/JAZZ%20IMAGES3/slides/charles%20mingus.jpg