Mingus is the tenth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriterJoni Mitchell, and a collaboration with composer and jazz musicianCharles Mingus. Recorded in the months before his death, it would be Mingus's final musical project; the album is wholly dedicated to him. Mingus was released on June 13, 1979. The album is quite experimental, featuring minimalist jazz, over-plucked, buzzing acoustic guitars, and even wolves howling through "The Wolf That Lives in Lindsey". All of the lyrics are by Mitchell, while the music for four of the songs was composed by Mingus, three being new tunes, a fourth being his tribute to saxophonist Lester Young from his 1959 classic Mingus Ah Um, "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat", for which Mitchell wrote a set of lyrics. As with the release preceding, Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, Mitchell hired personnel from jazz fusion group Weather Report, notably bassist Jaco Pastorius to play on the sessions. Mingus would also mark the first reunion of saxophonist Wayne Shorter and pianist Herbie Hancock in the studio since recording together on Shorter's seminal Native Dancer album, featuring Milton Nascimento, released in September 1974. The album is spliced with excerpts, which are labelled "", from recordings provided by Sue Graham Mingus, including a scat singing interplay between Joni and Mingus, and Charles and Sue arguing over his age at a birthday party. In "Funeral", Mingus and others discuss how long he'll live and what his funeral will be like. He refers to the Vedanta Society and asserts that he's going tolive longer than Duke Ellington, who died in 1974, aged 75, by saying, "I'm going to cut Duke!". "God Must Be a Boogie Man"—having taken shape two days after his death—was the only song Mingus was unable to hear. Mitchell suggests in the liner notes that Mingus would have found it hilarious. The song was re-recorded with orchestral accompaniment on Joni's 2002 album "Travelogue". The artwork features several paintings by Mitchell of Mingus. It peaked at #17 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart.
Track listing
Personnel
Sources:
Musicians
Prior to recording the album, Mitchell had several "experimental sessions" with New York musicians who had worked with Mingus. These musicians included: The recordings of the "experimental sessions", rumored to have been lost, destroyed, or made otherwise unavailable have become available as bootleg tapes. The personnel on the actual album were:
