April 22nd is the birthday of jazz legend Charles Mingus (1922). Mingus was a musical prodigy. He became a jazz bassist because racial discrimination and poverty prevented him from pursuing a career in classical music. Nevertheless, the Library of Congress placed his music scores besides those of Mozart and Beethoven. “Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity,” he said.
Mingus developed ALS in 1977 which prevented him from playing and eventually affected his voice. He continued to compose by humming the melodies and instrumental parts into a tape recorder. His last album was a collaboration with singer Joni Mitchell who added lyrics to his melodies. Mingus viewed the album as his epitaph. "My music is alive,” he said. “It’s about the living and the dead, about good and evil.” The album was called Mingus when it was released in 1979 shortly after his death. Today it’s known as A Chair in the Sky after a song on the album that Mitchell composed in honour of Mingus. When Mitchell first met Mingus he was sitting in his wheelchair in his Manhattan high-rise. “He was a very commanding figure. It was like he was enthroned,” she said. “It seemed like a regal position.” Shortly before his death, Mingus told his wife, “Next time I want to be a star. I want to be flashing all night long. A star stays up there till it burns out and becomes something else.” Along with Duke Ellington, Thelonius Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong and a couple of others, Charlie Mingus represented the best of American jazz. https://youtu.be/Ft_s84Axe8M Roland. Toronto.
