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Track Listings
| 1. Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting |
| 2. Cryin' Blues |
| 3. Moanin' |
| 4. Tensions |
| 5. My Jelly Roll Soul |
| 6. E's Flat Ah's Flat Too |
| 7. Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting |
| 8. Tensions |
| 9. My Jelly Roll Soul |
| 10. E's Flat Ah's Flat Too |
Product Description
CD New Package
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 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!
... Read more ›7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By William Burn
VINE™ VOICE
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.... Read more ›
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.... Read more ›
7 of 8 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!
By TR
Format:Audio CD
With hindsight it seems bizarre that prior to this album Mingus was accused by critics of not swinging enough. When I think of Mingus now I think of his main strength: taking quite complex ideas and making them seem simple with bands that swing like crazy.
Mingus takes as his starting point blues (Moanin), gospel (the 6/8 time Wednesday night prayer meeting) and New Orleans jazz (the Jelly Roll Morton tribute - My Jelly Roll Soul) but builds them into something a bit more complex. An extended group is used that adds depth to the music and the New Orleans style is utilised with multiple lines being played and the back-up players responding to soloists. Overall though it is the loose yet structured, swinging and raucous feel to the music that draws you in.
Mingus would use the same ideas again on numerous albums after this but here the ideas sound fresh and inspired and there are not really any weak tracks on the album. This album was a superb response to the critics and remains one of his best albums.
Mingus takes as his starting point blues (Moanin), gospel (the 6/8 time Wednesday night prayer meeting) and New Orleans jazz (the Jelly Roll Morton tribute - My Jelly Roll Soul) but builds them into something a bit more complex. An extended group is used that adds depth to the music and the New Orleans style is utilised with multiple lines being played and the back-up players responding to soloists. Overall though it is the loose yet structured, swinging and raucous feel to the music that draws you in.
Mingus would use the same ideas again on numerous albums after this but here the ideas sound fresh and inspired and there are not really any weak tracks on the album. This album was a superb response to the critics and remains one of his best albums.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
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
5.0 out of 5 stars
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
5.0 out of 5 stars
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
5.0 out of 5 stars
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
5.0 out of 5 stars
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
5.0 out of 5 stars
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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