Mingus secondo Mingus

by John F. Goodman, Michele Piumini (Translator)

Charles Mingus (1922-1979) ha rappresentato la più perfetta espressione dell’artista larger than life: esuberante, imperioso fin dalla stazza fisica, carismatico; facile alla rissa e alla risata, perennemente alla ricerca di un ideale di bellezza che inseguiva nella vita di tutti i giorni con la stessa grazia e la stessa rabbia con le quali cavava le note dalle corde del suo contrabbasso. In questo libro il giornalista americano John F. Goodman ha raccolto una serie di interviste inedite a Mingus da lui realizzate fra il 1972 e il 1974, creando un nuovo, affascinante autoritratto dell’uomo e del musicista. Con risposte di volta in volta lapidarie o torrenziali, candide o provocatorie, il grande contrabbassista affronta gli argomenti a lui più cari: la nostalgia per l’epoca delle big band e delle jam session e le perplessità rispetto ai più recenti sviluppi del jazz; il confronto con i critici musicali, da lui temuti quando non detestati; il delicato equilibrio tra la creatività estemporanea e il duro studio, tra l’originalità e la tradizione; le battaglie per l’indipendenza artistica in un ambiente dominato da discografi ci spregiudicati e impresari disonesti; i ricordi affettuosi dei colleghi e dei maestri scomparsi; i rapporti tumultuosi con le donne, passati attraverso numerosi matrimoni e altrettanti divorzi. Divertente, intimo, ricco di aneddoti e riflessioni, Mingus secondo Mingus è un’opportunità imperdibile per scoprire i mille volti di un artista simbolo dell’epoca d’oro del jazz.

Genres: Music, Jazz, Biography, Memoir

482 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

After graduate school at the Universities of Chicago and Wisconsin, I taught English in New York at NYU and City College during the Vietnam years. I also wrote a music column for the New Leader, a notable small leftish monthly, and then wrote on jazz, classical and rock for Playboy for nine years.

Mingus was a source of fascination for me, both because of his music and his outspoken opinions on everything. Playboy commissioned my review of Mingus’s “comeback” concert in February 1972, and from there we got to know and trust each other so as to begin the interviews that would finally lead to this book.

Reviews

[dv · Rating 2 out of 5]

Una lunghissima, in definitiva poco utile, esplorazione del "mingus-pensiero". Consigliato solo ai fan più affezionati.

[M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was fun at times, while he was at topic on the avant garde movement, the nature of good black music and art discussions. His endless stories with the mafia, and women (who, to surprise no one, are incredibly sexist, and I mean it because he brags about having slept with thousands of women, assuming as an unavoidable fact of life that men WILL trick women and use their bodies so in case they should have a pill, "although not always with them") are among the most regrettable wastes of print to ever exist.

Just to be clear I have my reservations about the whole deal, but please give men a little more responsibility over this.

[Amir Aharoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm writing this a couple of years after I finished it. What do I remember? That it was very fun to read. With all the man's imperfections, all the ways in which I could disagree with both the hero and the interviewer, it was still very fun to read. I don't remember a lot of the details. But ultimately, the biggest contribution of this book to my life was that it made me listen to Let My Children Hear Music again, and again, and again, and again. And for that, I'm enormously thankful to the interviewer.

[JerryDeanHalleck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Basically an oral history of the famous Jazz man. His views on music are the most interesting. Like many other Post-WW II Jazz Giants, he had some tough times and died relatively young. He talks about the 5 years after Eric Dolphy died where he did little composing and released almost no albums.
He got back into the swing in 1970, but came down with ALS in 1975 and died in 1979 - age 56.

[John F Goodman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of reviews are posted here: http://mingusspeaks.com/reviews. And an extended interview with me was just posted here: http://www.jerryjazzmusician.com/2013....

[Matt Carton · Rating 5 out of 5]

As good a book as I have ever read on Mingus. More an oral biography/autobiography than anything else, Goodman shines on a light on the eccentricities, contradictions, genius, and humanity of Mingus the man. Highly recommended for any music fan, or any fan of creative persons.

[Kurt Gottschalk · Rating 4 out of 5]

See my review in the February, 2014, issue of the NYC Jazz Record. http://www.nycjazzrecord.com/