Blues & Roots (Mono Remastered) Charles Mingus

• 1 Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting 05:45
• 2 Cryin' Blues 05:03
• 3 Moanin' 07:59
• 4 Tensions 06:31
• 5 My Jelly Roll Soul 06:51
• 6 E's Flat Ah's Flat Too 06:44
• Total Runtime 38:53

Info for Blues & Roots (Mono Remastered)

Originally released in 1960, Blues & Roots is about as aptly titled as albums get, revealing some of Mingus’s more unexpected musical influences...or, at least, they’re unexpected if you think the man grew up listening to a diet of non-stop jazz. As Mingus explained in the album’s liner notes, the record came about as a result of Nesuhi Ertegun suggesting that he record an entire blues album in the style of “Haitian Fight Song” (which made its debut on Mingus’s 1957 Atlantic album, The Clown) in order to silence critics who were saying that Mingus didn’t swing enough. “He wanted to give them a barrage of soul music: churchy, blues, swinging, earthy,” wrote Mingus. “I thought it over. I was born swinging and clapped my hands in church as a little boy, but I've grown up and I like to do things other than just swing. But blues can do more than just swing. So I agreed.”

On that front, Blues & Roots would seem to have been a success: the All Music Guide says outright that “it ranks as arguably Mingus’s most joyously swinging outing.” It’s also worth noting that Elvis Costello cited the album in a Vanity Fair feature where he put together a 24-hour soundtrack for his life: “8 A.M. The day is picking up pace. Mingus is playing loud in the kitchen, something is boiling. It's Blues & Roots or the excellent Thirteen Pictures: The Charles Mingus Anthology.” (Maybe one of these days we’ll bring the latter back into print. That was a pretty darned good collection, if we do say so ourselves.)

So there you go: Blues & Roots, now in the HighResAudio catalog in glorious mono. Before we sign off, though, we thought we’d give you a chance to play catch-up with these Mono Monday releases by putting together a playlist, one we'll switch out whenever there's a new addition to the series. For now, that means you can also spin Albert King’s King of the Blues Guitar, Archie Bell & The Drells’ I Can’t Stop Dancing, and Aretha Franklin’s I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, but rest assured that there’ll be more to come in the very near future.

'A classic 1957 set showcasing Mingus' compositional genius as well as his unerring ability at getting the best from his sidemen.' (Record Collector)

'...vital and important music...[Mingus] is outstanding in his solo work...this is something worth careful and thorough listening...' (Down Beat)

Charles Mingus, bass
Jackie McLean, alto saxophone
John Handy, alto saxophone
Booker Ervin, tenor saxophone
Pepper Adams, baritone saxophone
Jimmy Knepper, trombone
Willie Dennis, trombone
Horace Parlan, piano
Mal Waldron, piano
Dannie Richmond, drums

Recorded at Atlantic Studios, New York, New York on February 4, 1959
Engineered by Tom Dowd
Produced by Nesuhi Ertegun

Digitally remastered

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This album contains no booklet.