At The Bohemia

Mingus at the Bohemia fixed a moment in time where Mingus found his musical identity. The concert was recorded at Café Bohemia in New York on December 23, 1955, and Mingus group featured the great Max Roach as a special guest. Further recordings from the long date were released under the title The Charles Mingus Quintet & Max Roach, while some others appeared in compilation sets. Only one song with Roach was included on Mingus at the Bohemia, but it is the most important one, consisting of a unique duet between the drummer and the bassist: ”Percussion Discussion”. Apparently Mingus added a piccolo bass part to this one in the studio.

”Septemberly” is a fusion of two songs: ”September in the Rain” goes over into a romantic ”Tenderly”. The last song is the standard ”All the Things You Are” blended with Sergei Rachmaninoff’s ”Prelude in C sharp minor”. The ”Work Song” included here is a Mingus composition, not to be confused with the better known homonymous Nat Adderley song.

Mingus at the Bohemia comes from early in Mingus’ career and features some of his first originals in the avantblues style that will come to be the hallmark of his career. ”Jump Monk” is driving hard bop with a catchy and insistent arrangement that teeters on the verge of chaos. This tune would go on to be one of Mingus’ most played classics, and it sums up so much of what his career would be about. The virtuoso piano playing of Mal Waldron is also a highlight of this show. He is heard playing an unaccompanied homage to Bud Powell on our bonus track. Mal’s ability to fuse blues with humorous extravagances and deconstructionist blunt force mixes well with Mingus’ musical vision, as both seem to draw upon a combination of Ellington, Monk and the new avant-garde. Conventional wisdom maintains that the two horn players on here were a bit old school for what Mingus and Waldron were up to, but they both do a great job playing Mingus’ unusual arrangements and plunge right into the spirit. Their solos, particularly those by trombonist Eddie Bert, are more conventional, but Eddie’s soft swinging style just adds to the interesting incongruities of the entire project.