Customer Reviews

Very Best of Charles Mingus

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

To call it "The Very Best Of" Charles Mingus is, at best, an issue open to debate. What you're getting here is a sampling of Mingus from the three albums that Rhino owns the rights to:

The Clown - 1957 (songs #4,5)

Blues & Roots - 1959 (songs #6,7,8)

Oh Yeah - 1961 (songs #9,10,11)

The first 3 tracks are on loan from Atlantic records since Rhino distributes all of their vault material. Now, this doesn't mean that this compilation isn't worthwhile, it surely is. Just don't think for a minute that if you own this disc, then you own all the Mingus you'll need to have. It completely forsakes the incredible duo of 1959's Mingus Ah Um (his best, in my opinion) and Mingus Dynasty, in addition to giving short shrift to his Atlantic recordings of the same period.

Owning this does provide an attractive alternative to shelling out the bucks for all 3 of the anthologized albums, plus you get some good Atlantic tracks to boot. But don't be fooled into thinking you're getting "The Very Best Of" Mingus, unless of course you add Mingus Ah-Um and Mingus At Antibes to your shopping cart at the same time.

For the music selections alone, this is a 5 star album, nicely chosen and placed songs. But I have serious gripes about the audio quality of this atlantis compilation.
Firstly, a small thing; some of the tracks were obviously quieter then others - Pithecanthropus Erectus for example, which made it neccessary to bring the overall volume of the album down in order for it to flow smoothly. Ok, that is a small thing, the album is rather low in volume.
My real complaint however is the amount of clipping which occurs all the way through my album, rendering it all but unlistenable. For those not familiar with the term, clipping is a type of distortion which occurs when a source is recorded louder then the recording devices maximum volume level. It is absolutely undesirable in almost every case - this included. In many cases the trumpets and other instruments just clip when they hit a certain level and I feel let down by atlantis for allowing this to occur. No sound producer in his right mind would be happy with this product especially when the recordings are from around the 60's. So 5 stars for the music. 1 star for the production. I compromised with 3.

That should be an accurate title really. These are the Atlantic recordings made between 1956 and 1961. And it is the best of the following Mingus recordings: the clown, oh yeah, blues & roots, tonight at noon and pithecanthopus erectus. Some of Mingus finest compositions are here: pithecantropus erectus, haitian fight song, tonight at noon, ecclusiastics, etc. A great introduction to Mingus, highly recommendable.

After listening to this album several times, "The Very Best.. is an overstatement. This nonessential collection of music is nothing more than a few of Mingus's experimental sessions. Unless you're a diehard fan, I'd suggest getting "Mingus Ah Um" or "Mingus Moves".

If you are going to start with a single CD Mingus compilation to start off your collection or do some exploring, I would suggest the new 'definative' collection released in conjunction with the Ken Burns JAZZ documentary on PBS.

Of course, the music on this CD is incredible. That is not the question. Personally, I suggest the 13 Chapters Anthology on Rhino, which is comes close to representing the ecclectic genius of this Great American Composer and band leader.