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Jazz Icons: Charles Mingus Live in '64

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If you've ever been intrigued by the music of Charles Mingus, one of the greatest composers and innovators in the history of jazz, you owe it to yourself to get this DVD. I've already watched it 3 times, and will be enjoying it (and others in this Naxos series) for years to come. The footage, all from Mingus's European tour of 1964, includes a live concert and other performances made for European television. The three venues (Belgium, Norway, and Sweden) were filmed within a one week period. The camera work is quite good, and the quality of the film is certainly OK for its time. You get plenty for your money: the DVD is a full two hours long, much longer than most others in this series.

This group was arguably Mingus's best line-up ever, and the tour was easily one of the high-points in the great bassist's long and productive career. It's a real pleasure to watch this charismatic leader play and interact with his fellow musicians; he was clearly having fun and receiving satisfaction from what this remarkable band was producing. There's plenty of footage of the great Eric Dolphy--much more than on the John Coltrane Jazz Icons DVD. Clifford Jordan, Johnny Coles, Jaki Byard, and Dannie Richmond all play well and are fun to watch. One thing that seems especially notable about this group (besides the collection of talent) is that everyone has a somewhat different style, yet the conglomeration results in some of the most interesting (and complex) jazz music every created by a small group.

Although one might wish for a greater variety of compositions (there are a total of 6), the DVD apparently does include most of the songs the group was playing on this tour. There are 4 different versions of "So Long Eric" and 3 of "Meditations on Integration," but these are performed quite differently and it's interesting to hear the varied arrangements and improvising from venue to venue. In summary: Exhilarating !

Why bother with a DVD of Mingus from the sixties, in black and white? Especially when you have the best of his recorded legacy and have heard it a hundred times? A couple of reasons - firstly, Mr Mingus was a composer, conductor and musician of outstanding excellence whose working methods are best revealed visually at the moment of creation. Of many improvising artists, he is one of the most active and passionate in his methods exhorting, listening deeply, using eyes, hands and body to guide, and providing a model of powerful leadership.
The viewer is witness to a creative process which he sees evolving before his eyes and feels drawn in to it. The gap between performers and viewer seems small indeed. Secondly, those in his band, like those in the various bands of Duke Ellington, are all masters on their respective instrument, and to be a visual and aural witness to their interactions with Mr Mingus is in itself a lesson in musicianship. Mr Byard is a revelation. One small, observation: Mr Mingus appears to have feet as large as another great American, Michael Phelps!

"Charles Mingus: Live in '64" is one of the strongest entries yet in Naxos' superb Jazz Icons DVD collection. The series features historical concert footage recorded by far-sighted European television stations of some of the biggest names in jazz history. Mingus--certainly one of the four or five most important jazz creators--is captured during his 1964 concert tour in Belgium, Norway and Sweden working with what was arguably his greatest band ever. Multi-reedman Eric Dolphy, tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan, trumpeter Johnny Coles, pianist Jaki Byard and drummer Dannie Richmond were intuitive and brilliant interpreters of Mingus' unique music, which synthesized blues, gospel, bop, New Orleans traditional and early '60s modernism. (Next to Mingus, Dolphy was the most important artist in this band, as well as the most adventurous, able to adapt to mainstream musical surroundings while seamlessly exploring his own radical directions.) Each musician was also flexible enough to meet the unique demands of their mercurial and unpredictable bandleader. Mingus preferred to communicate his compositions verbally rather than write them down, frequently changed their structure, tempo and duration (often during a performance), and granted a large measure of creative latitude to his band members in bringing his music to life. This approach contributed to the exhilarating, spontaneous quality of his concerts and recordings, and helped ensure that no two versions of the same tune ended up sounding quite the same. In fact, two of Mingus' seminal compositions--"So Long, Eric" and "Meditations on Integration"--are played multiple times on this DVD, yet each performance emerges as a distinct and original incarnation. Needless to say, Mingus and his band are in peak form throughout all three concerts, demonstrating a sustained level of emotion and improvisation that almost defies description. Equally fascinating is the rehearsal footage captured prior to the Stockholm concert, which shows Mingus shaping the overall contours of each tune while leaving plenty of room for creative interpretation. An added bonus is watching the musicians interact with one another as well as respond to Mingus' instructions. This is musical history in the making, a revelatory visual and audio document essential for anyone interested in the development of American's greatest indigenous art form. Amen.

The Charles Mingus Live in '64 Jazz Icon DVD is an incredible record of one of the best jazz ensembles to ever play together. When the sextet performed Meditations in Belgium, they played flawlessly, with Eric Dolphy standing out on both flute and bass clarinet and Mingus experimenting with techniques and timbres on bass and with dropping objects onto the piano's strings during the performance. I am so glad to have the DVD so I can study what the ensemble accomplished together musically. It is especially important for me to have a visual record of these last performances of Eric Dolphy's. Since he died in June of 1964, these are precious records of a musical genius whose life was cut short by undiagnosed diabetes.

Jaki Byard sounds amazing on the recordings also. His knowledge of all types of music seeps into his improvisations. One minute he's evoking Jelly Roll Morton and the next Tchaikovsky and Alban Berg, and Asian flavors blossom, too. Clifford Jordan is an understated player, and he's technically precise with a nice tone quality. His way of working fit perfectly with Mingus' overwhelming and fiery personality. Richmond, an ebullient drummer with an obvious love for playing with this group of musicians follows Mingus well and changes the tempi with precision in Meditations. Coles' trumpet playing is also undertstated, yet beautifully expressive. It's clear Miles Davis had a strong influence on his playing with the bending of notes and lovely tone quality.

Eric Dolpy and Mingus are the stars, however. Dolphy blows my mind with his virtuosity on three instruments. His flute playing is lovely and nuanced and when he grabs the bass clarinet another side of him comes to the fore. Pyrotechnics is the word that comes to mind. His alto saxophone playing is equally mind-numbing.

Mingus put together one of the best groups of musicians ever and composed music perfectly suited to their talents.

2 hours of video of Mingus w/ Dolphy - need I say more? High quality b&w visuals. Sound lacked punch and good, deep bass, but I'm sure it's because I don't have a home theater system and listened to it on my TV speakers.

Now,the title of this comment might be a bit tacky; I haven't really seen enough dvds to judge like that, but if you watch this, you'll get carried away as well... Whether it's one of the versions of "So Long Eric", beautiful "Meditation on Integration", or Eric Dolphy (and the rest of the band) going beserk on "Take the A Train" - this is brilliant, swinging, modern and innovative jazz music, with hard drive warm feeling and plenty more...
If you add good filming crew, brilliant liner notes, you get a 5 star item to say the least... It' interesting - Mingus arranges his quintets and quartets to sound as if they were big bands, without loosing the subtleties of a small group. But, I guess that's just one of the things that makes him such a great leader and composer. And on most of these tracks there are six musicians!

This is America's finest, recorded in Norway, Sweeden and Belgium.

I got the Mingus for myself and ordered the Monk [ASIN:B000H9HWSC Jazz Icons: Thelonious Monk Live in '66]]for my brother, a life long jazz musician. I'll get the Monk later for myself. I experienced most of these musicians in the 60's and these DVDs are the closest thing to the live club performances that I've experienced. No jumpy cameras; nothing interferes with the music and the performance. You can sense the personality of some of the greatest musicians of the 20th century!!![

Charles Mingus believed that jazz had lost something essential in the interplay between soloist and ensemble after the development of bebop, so his sextet work was focused on bringing back that kind of interplay in a modern idiom. The band on this DVD, Dolphy, Clifford Jordan, Byard, Johnny Coles sextet and the ubiquitous Richmond was the best small group in jazz ever IMO. Hands down better than the overrated second Miles Davis Quintet. The interplay between the players in the sextet is nothing short of incredible - they never leave the stage - always ready for either arranged or improvised ensemble passages in a number. They are a band - a unit - not a collection of soloists. A member of the rhythm section laying out isn't really an arrangement - these guys understand band interplay on an exalted level few have achieved.

Mingus was an excellent arranger and composer, as well as leading his band on stage in improvised arrangements, and encouraging his band to improvise ensemble passages during solos. There are several instances on the video when you can see two of the horn players catch each other's eye while another is soloing and devise a supporting lick then play it behind the soloist. During the long, and carefully arranged, "Meditations On Integration" Mingus places objects in Byard's piano for some improvised prepared piano and Byard doesn't miss a beat. During a scorching Dolphy solo Mingus sings a lick for Dolphy to include in his solo, then Jordan and Coles pick it up and use it in a lick for ensemble support behind Dolphy. What other band could do things like that? There's some true esp in this band.

When a soloist is hot Mingus will cut out the band to allow him full expression, as he does for Jordan during his solo on "Take the A Train" - Mingus is so excited he stomps his feet as he gives Jordan the floor to preach from his pulpit. While soloing the band keeps an eye on each other, and on Mingus, as Mingus allows for moments of elasticity. It's difficult to hear the exact words, but before the band breaks into "Parkerania" you can hear them discussing how many chorus's each will take - Mingus says something like, let's say 5 cause if we say 8 we'll take 10." "Parkerania" doesn't seem to be gelling like it could - so Mingus stops the band in the middle of a Coles solo, stomps out a beat, and they light into "A Train," playing some of the best solos on the whole DVD.

This video is an education in how a small group can become an integrated unit, how modern jazz can effectively use interplay of the ensemble and soloist as in traditional jazz - and do so either prearranged and on the fly - and in the effectiveness of band members staying on stage together to allow for a kind of interplay unattainable otherwise. Furthermore, it shows that a band doesn't need to be made up of stars in order to achieve a rarefied state of excellence.

!Wow

I hope the people that put out this rare dvd keeps them coming. Seeing Mingus and Dolphy together is awesome, and there is also rehearsals of the band performing on the dvd. !Please get this great footage and trust me, you will not be disappointed.

Great performances, fantastic musicians etc...
"Orange was the color of her dress, then blue silk" AMAZING cut....

IMO this is a must own