Jazz Before Bedtime: Charles Mingus - What Love

What Love

Provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises What Love · Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus ℗ 1989 Candid Productions Ltd Released on: 2...

youtube.com

This week's theme is "All About That Bass". All of the tracks will be led by bass players.

We start out with that most famous bassist-leader, Charles Mingus. This is "What Love", from the album "Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus". The piece is famous for how it plays with tempo and (lack of) rhythm. Mingus and the quartet speed up and slow down while still keeping pace with each other. Sometimes the drummer drops off entirely. There's also a great duet passage between Mingus and Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet which literally sounds like a conversation. A bit more avant-garde than what I usually post here, but well worth a listen.

Personnel

  • Charles Mingus - bass
  • Eric Dolphy - alto saxophone, bass clarinet
  • Ted Curson - trumpet
  • Dannie Richmond - drums