- Audio CD (29 Jan 2007)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Format: Extra tracks, Import
- Label: Msi Music/Super D
- ASIN: B000KHXFY6
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Audio Cassette | Vinyl | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,108,367 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Bassist Charles Mingus was always ready for a good fight. In the liner notes to this disc, Mingus says he wanted to respond to critics who said he didn't swing enough. And reply he did. Mingus gave whoever these absurd quibblers were some of the most ecstatic blues ("Moanin'" and "Cryin Blues"), gospel ("Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting") and Dixieland ("My Jelly Roll Soul") the jazz world has ever heard. Along with his striking original compositions, the instrumental combination in Mingus's nonet remains unconventional: the frontline included four saxophonists and two trombonists without the counterweight of a trumpeter. The leader's sliding octave bass lines and percussive slaps are totally rollicking, and the wild abandon in the group's playing is irrepressible. --Aaron Cohen
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
If anyone has ever wondered, as I once did, where that cool music from the advert for Tetley's beer comes from (the one with the guy on the beach whose dog comes out of the sea and causes the crowd to part like the scene from "Jaws") then look no further than track 3, titled "Moanin'"! What's more, the orignal version featured on this album is far, far superior.
This album was released several months after Mingus' blistering "Mingus Ah Um" although it was actually recorded before it. For anyone who already owns a copy of Ah Um, two of the tunes will be very familiar, namely "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" and "My Jelly Roll Soul" as they turned up in reworked form as "Better Git It In Your Soul" and "Jelly Roll" respectively. Despite this "Blues & Roots" is still a worthy purchase (even just for "Moanin' which, with its catchy theme stated on baritone saxophone, is, to my mind the star track on this disc). "Tensions" is another fine track - just listen to the way the solo bass reacts against the chords of the piano. "E's Flat, Ah's Flat Too" is another tune with a baritone line that you'll be humming for some time afterwards. There's some fine soloing from all three sax players: Booker Ervin (tenor), Shafi Hadi (aka Curtis Porter)(alto) and Pepper Adams (baritone). This is an intense and firery record which will probably take up a semi-permanent residence in your cd-player!
As with other Mingus albums recorded for Atlantic this has been recxently remastered to a very high standard and handsomely repackaged with a mock record sleeve featuring the original artwork and the original liner notes by notable Mingus commentator, Nat Hentoff who, on this release, adds yet another insightful look into Mingus the man and Mingus the musician.
For anyone who's heard Mingus' name and has been wondering what all the fuss is about, I urge you to invest in this disc - you'll find out, and you'll be glad you did!
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Charles Mingus is a somewhat daunting figure in jazz music, and his records are not only musical adventures, but to delve even into the field of anthropology and psychology. Knowing where to start is difficult (Mingus' first major album's title was in Latin!), and the later records are conceptually so broad that they could put the casual listener off. This is not to say that they are not great music - they are stunning - but if you are looking to get into one of jazz music's most exciting and individual band leaders, you could do a lot worse than start with this disc.
This album was recorded at an exciting time in Mingus' life and work. His ensemble had grown to what could be described as a small big-band of around 9 musicians, and he was drawing on a feast of ideas which were coming out of the Jazz Workshops in New York City. He recorded three great albums in this period, of which "Mingus Ah Um" is probably the most famous, and although "Blues and Roots" does not quite match it in the brilliance of its execution, it remains a thrilling, highly musical and enormously enjoyable jazz record.
It was the producer Nesuhi Ertegün who put forward the idea for "Blues and Roots", partly to refute criticism of Mingus which claimed he did not swing hard enough, and also to provide "a barrage of soul music: churchy, blues, swinging, earthy." If nothing else, this album succeeds on this scale a hundred times over. However, Mingus himself went on to say "blues can do more than just swing", and it is in this dimension that the album provides such lasting musical food for thought.
The swing of the album is set off powerfully in the opening number - "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" with its pulsating bass line. "Moanin" (track 3) swings like nothing on earth: Pepper Adams' baritone sax provides the bass ostinato figure and Dannie Richmond drives the ensemble into a frenzy of blues-soaked figures. However, this track also demonstrates the ability to change texture and mood that makes the album so satisfying: no sooner has the climax of the ensemble playing been reached, than the horn players all drop out and a much lighter solo section is introduced. Mingus uses these shifts and changes to brilliant effect throughout the disc, so that at no point does any one texture become monotonous or dragging.
The other side to the album is to be found in the variety of feelings which Mingus achieves with a relatively small force of instrumentalists. "Tensions", for example, is edgy and the horn players provide a figure that sits uneasily over the rhythm section's work. It should be noted that the bass solo on this track is vintage Mingus.
I mentioned above that this album is not as great as its very near contemporary "Ah Um", but it is still a great album, and one which really should be in your collection. What it does do is provide is fantastic musicians blowing great tracks that pulse and surge with energy.
This album was recorded at an exciting time in Mingus' life and work. His ensemble had grown to what could be described as a small big-band of around 9 musicians, and he was drawing on a feast of ideas which were coming out of the Jazz Workshops in New York City. He recorded three great albums in this period, of which "Mingus Ah Um" is probably the most famous, and although "Blues and Roots" does not quite match it in the brilliance of its execution, it remains a thrilling, highly musical and enormously enjoyable jazz record.
It was the producer Nesuhi Ertegün who put forward the idea for "Blues and Roots", partly to refute criticism of Mingus which claimed he did not swing hard enough, and also to provide "a barrage of soul music: churchy, blues, swinging, earthy." If nothing else, this album succeeds on this scale a hundred times over. However, Mingus himself went on to say "blues can do more than just swing", and it is in this dimension that the album provides such lasting musical food for thought.
The swing of the album is set off powerfully in the opening number - "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" with its pulsating bass line. "Moanin" (track 3) swings like nothing on earth: Pepper Adams' baritone sax provides the bass ostinato figure and Dannie Richmond drives the ensemble into a frenzy of blues-soaked figures. However, this track also demonstrates the ability to change texture and mood that makes the album so satisfying: no sooner has the climax of the ensemble playing been reached, than the horn players all drop out and a much lighter solo section is introduced. Mingus uses these shifts and changes to brilliant effect throughout the disc, so that at no point does any one texture become monotonous or dragging.
The other side to the album is to be found in the variety of feelings which Mingus achieves with a relatively small force of instrumentalists. "Tensions", for example, is edgy and the horn players provide a figure that sits uneasily over the rhythm section's work. It should be noted that the bass solo on this track is vintage Mingus.
I mentioned above that this album is not as great as its very near contemporary "Ah Um", but it is still a great album, and one which really should be in your collection. What it does do is provide is fantastic musicians blowing great tracks that pulse and surge with energy.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Well, there will be one track recogniseable to many from a beer advert (Moaning) though sadly the original was not used (jazz geek alert!).
It features a small/medium band, partly arranged to give a very (as the title suggests) bluesy, rootsy and gospel influenced feel.
This album is most certainly not a polished studio effort, it is noisy, rough and absolutely full of talent, life and laughter.
It's a brilliant album, not dinner jazz, but jazz that blows stuffy politeness out of the water, I love it!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
An absolute stonker
With hindsight it seems bizarre that prior to this album Mingus was accused by critics of not swinging enough. Read more
Published 17 months ago by TR
AMPHETAMINE-JAZZ
This album has got more energy and exhubrance and is more invigorating than any other music Ive heard. Read more
Published on 1 Dec 2009 by Mr. M. T. Davies
Hot, Loud and Brash - The Essential Mingus Primer
Everywhere seems to suggest that Ah Um is the one and only greatest introduction to Mingus's music. Not to knock that album, but it has a certain cinematic beauty that is best... Read more
Published on 13 Aug 2009 by Kampfschwein
Blues, Jazz, Swing and Funk
This is a Jazz album to savour, recorded in New York in 1959 it has the right ingredients.
This swings like hell. Read more
This swings like hell. Read more
Published on 22 Nov 2008 by S J Buck
An excellent album, and an excellent introduction to Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus is a somewhat daunting figure in jazz music, and his records are not only musical adventures, but to delve even into the field of anthropology and psychology. Read more
Published on 28 Aug 2007 by William Burn
Fantastic
If you like your jazz finger-snappin' exciting and of the highest quality of musicianship then buy this album now! Worth it for Mingus' interpretation of Moanin' alone. Read more
Published on 20 Feb 2007 by Harlow Guthrie
Mingus? Silly name but a class act
I'll keep this short, I'm not a big jazz fan, but this album and 'Mingus Ah Um' I love, not 'like', I love them. Read more
Published on 28 Sep 2004 by R. E. Baggaley
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