Mingus Plays Piano [Original recording remastered]

Charles Mingus | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 25, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Grp Records
• ASIN: B000003N9C
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #134,925 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Japanese 24 Bit/96KHz remastered reissue of 1963 album originally issued on Impulse!, packaged in a limited edition miniature gatefold LP sleeve. 2001. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WHEN I HADN'T THOUGHT I DRANK THAT MUCH..., January 27, 2000

By 

C. V. Garnett "Vance Garnett" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mingus Plays Piano (Audio CD)

I enjoyed this Mingus piano album for years in an LP fromat. I loved everything about it: the cover portrait of the artist, the selections, and the "wee-small hours" feel of it. Back when I imbibed a bit, it often served as the unknown barometer that told me I had indeed been "over served." This was the album that hit that 3 o'clock in the morning, "dark night of the soul" spot. And often I would awaken (or "come to")to find the album still spinning on the turntable or spy the record jacket, which had served as a coaster, dotted with circles. But Mingus and his "Memories of You" or "I Can't Get Started" standards, along with his own compositions like "Myself When I Am Real," did the trick. They kept me company when I wasn't fit for anybody else's. At one point--and I'm glad the producers put the dialogue on the album--Mingus says "It's not like playing at home, is it?" and yet one would hardly know that he wasn't, that a studio indeed provided the venue. The engineer asks, "What can we do for you?" Whatever Mingus may have asked, and whatever was done for him, it all served the greater purpose of providing a vintage moment with Mingus, not standing beside his bass, but bent over a piano playing chords that resonated with the late-nite, early-morning mood. I once played a couple cuts of this album for the great pianist George Shearing, and while Mr. Shearing said that these were not standard pianistic chords, he acknowledged finding the Mingus interpretation enjoyable and inventive. I recommend the album, the CD, to anyone of taste.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A personal favorite., August 17, 2005

By 

Michael Stack (North Chelmsford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mingus Plays Piano (Audio CD)

1963 was quite a year for Charles Mingus. He'd already recorded what may be his masterwork in "Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" when he returned to the studio to record in a rather unique manner-- as a solo pianist. The result is the stunning and often achingly beautiful "Mingus Plays Piano: Spontaneous Compositions and Improvisations".

Mingus, for someone known as a bassist, is quite a pianist-- his style is heavily indebted to Ellington, but there's also shades of Monk and Powell in his playing. More importantly, though, it's clear Mingus composed at the piano, as the voicings unique to his music are extraordinarily clear on this recording. And it's also clear that had he chosen this path, he'd've been a pianist of some repute.

The performances are largely pretty laid back, Mingus is in a pretty meditative and bluesy mood-- he tackles a few standards, some of his own compositions, and improvisations on brief themes within his music. The best of the material is delicate and lovely ("Myself When I Am Real"), energetic but not aggressive ("Body and Soul") or just stunning ("Orange Was the Color Of Her Dress, Then Silk Blues"). And while it lacks much of the bite, sarcasm, and aggressivenes of some of Mingus' better work, it is in its own way, a stunning album. Highly recommended.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Most Hauntingly Beautiful Album I Own, March 18, 2006

By 

Scott Hercher (Scranton, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mingus Plays Piano (Audio CD)

I can only listen to this album maybe once a year. The melodies, the chords, the feelings it invokes are so beautiful, so haunting that when I listen to this I can't get the sounds out of my head for a couple of days. I usually have absolutely no clue what to put on the turntable (I have the vinyl reissue from 1982, which regrettably doesn't have all the songs on this CD) after I've listened to this, so I sit in the dark, unable to put on the light and examine the shelves.

Mingus was certainly one of the greatest jazz bassists ever, a notable composer and bandleader, but I think this album, his piano playing, really highlights his musical genius. Most instruments in jazz don't really lend themselves to solo performance. The dynamic range of the piano does, however, and here you can hear Mingus' compositional ideas in an intimate setting in their full complexity, and in their barest forms at the same time.