''A Modern Jazz Symposium of Music and Poetry'' is an album by the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

, composer, and band leader

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians and ...

, released by

Bethlehem Records Bethlehem Records was an American jazz independent record label, founded by Gus Wildi in 1953. History Bethlehem is remembered for its jazz releases from the 1950s. Producers included Creed Taylor and Teddy Charles. Bethlehem released the firs ...

in mid-1959. In spite of the title, the album does not contain any poetry. "Scenes in the City", however, includes narration performed by

Mel Stewart Milton "Mel" Stewart (September 19, 1929 – February 24, 2002) was an American character actor, television director, and musician who appeared in numerous films and television shows from the 1960s to the 1990s. He is best known for playing Hen ...

and written by actor

Lonne Elder Lonne Elder III (December 26, 1927 – June 11, 1996) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. Elder was one of the leading African American figures who informed the New York theater world with social and political consciousness. ...

with assistance from

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...

. The composition "Duke's Choice" re-appears, in updated form, as "I X Love" on the 1963 album ''

Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus ''Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus'' is a studio album by the American jazz composer and bassist Charles Mingus which was released on January 9, 1964. Background Mingus collaborated with arranger/orchestrator Bob Hammer to score the music for ...

''.

Nat Hentoff Nathan Irving Hentoff (June 10, 1925 – January 7, 2017) was an American historian, novelist, jazz and country music critic, and syndicated columnist for United Media. Hentoff was a columnist for ''The Village Voice'' from 1958 to 2009. Fol ...

identifies "Nouroog" as the precursor to "I X Love". "Nouroog", "Duke's Choice" and "Slippers" form the basis of the suite "Open Letter to Duke" on ''

Mingus Ah Um ''Mingus Ah Um'' is a studio album by American jazz musician Charles Mingus which was released in October 1959 by Columbia Records. It was his first album recorded for Columbia. The cover features a painting by S. Neil Fujita. The title is a corrup ...

''. The CD issues of the album include three bonus tracks: the

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...

standard "

Woody 'n' You "Woody 'n' You", is a 1942 jazz standard written by Dizzy Gillespie as an homage to Woody Herman. It was one of three arrangements Gillespie made for Herman's big band, although it was not used at the time; the other two were "Swing Shift" and "Down ...

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

's "

Billie's Bounce "Billie's Bounce" (also known as "Bill's Bounce") is a jazz composition written in 1945 by Charlie Parker in the form of a 12 bar F blues. Some sources claim that the song was dedicated to Dizzy Gillespie's agent, Billy Shaw, although according ...

", which is listed as "Bounce" and miscredited to Mingus, and an alternate take of "Slippers".

Reception

The

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

review by

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born October 4, 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author.Allmusic Biography/ref> Biography Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Since 1974, he was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles an ...

called the album "an excellent set of challenging yet often accessible music". ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled by ...

'' deemed it "an opportunity for Mingus to experiment with texts and with pure sound". The ''Penguin'' editors furthermore cite

Clarence Shaw Clarence Eugene Shaw, sometimes credited as Gene Shaw (June 16, 1926 – August 17, 1973) was an American jazz trumpeter and a student of Fourth Way psychology. Early life Shaw was born in Detroit on June 16, 1926. He played the piano and trombon ...

's performance on "New York Sketchbook" as "the best trumpet heard on a Mingus album for some time before or since".

Track listing

All titles by Charles Mingus, except where noted. # "Scenes in the City" (Music: Mingus; Narrative: Elder, Hughes) – 11:55 # "Nouroog" – 4:52 # "New York Sketchbook" – 8:55 # "Duke's Choice" – 6:27 # "Slippers" – 3:29 Bonus tracks # "

" ( Gillespie) – 8:44 #* Mistitled "Wouldn't You" on earlier releases # "

Bounce Bounce or The Bounce may refer to: * Deflection (physics), the event where an object Collision, collides with and bounces against a plane surface Books * Mr. Bounce, a character from the Mr. Men series of children's books Broadcasting, film and ...

" (

Parker Parker may refer to: Persons * Parker (given name) * Parker (surname) Places Place names in the United States *Parker, Arizona *Parker, Colorado * Parker, Florida * Parker, Idaho * Parker, Kansas * Parker, Missouri * Parker, North Carolina *Park ...

) – 9:22 # "Slippers (Alternate Take)" – 3:50

Personnel

– bass *

Jimmy Knepper James Minter Knepper (November 22, 1927 – June 14, 2003) was an American jazz trombonist. In addition to his own recordings as leader, Knepper performed and recorded with Charlie Barnet, Woody Herman, Claude Thornhill, Stan Kenton, Benny Goo ...

–

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

Shafi Hadi __NOTOC__ Shafi Hadi (born Curtis Porter, 21 September 1929 – 1976) was an American jazz tenor and alto saxophonist known for his recordings with Charles Mingus and with Hank Mobley. Biography Hadi was born Curtis Porter in Philadelphia, Pe ...

–

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

and

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

Bill Hardman William Franklin Hardman Jr. (April 6, 1933 – December 6, 1990) was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist who chiefly played hard bop. He was married to Roseline and they had a daughter Nadege. Career Hardman was born and grew ...

–

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

(on "Nouroog") *

– trumpet (except on "Nouroog") *

Dannie Richmond Charles Daniel Richmond (December 15, 1931 – March 16, 1988) was an American jazz drummer who is best known for his work with Charles Mingus. He also worked with Joe Cocker, Elton John and Mark-Almond. Biography Richmond was born Charles ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Horace Parlan Horace Parlan (January 19, 1931 – February 23, 2017) was an American pianist and composer known for working in the hard bop and post-bop styles of jazz. In addition to his work as a bandleader Parlan was known for his contributions to the Char ...

–

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

(on "Nouroog", "Duke's Choice", "Slippers"; left hand during final solo on "New York Sketchbook") *

Bob Hammer Howard Robert "Bob" Hammer (born March 3, 1930 - December 26, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, composer and arranger. Biography Hammer was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He began performing in Michigan at age 15 before studying at Michig ...

– piano (on remaining tracks) *

– voice (narration on "Scenes in the City")

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Modern Jazz Symposium Of Music And Poetry, A Charles Mingus albums 1959 albums Bethlehem Records albums