The Centre Cannot Hold » Alabama 3

1979 – Charles Mingus dies

Loki — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:23:24 +0000

An accomplished bassist, pianist and bandleader, Charles Mingus is perhaps best-remembered today for his work as a composer. Between 1943 and his death in 1979, he composed and arranged numerous influential works of jazz – his final composition, Epitath, was appropriately never performed until after his death.

Mingus was a perfectionist, especially as a bandleader, and was notorious for his temper – he was widely known as ‘the Angry Man of Jazz‘ – but most of the musicians he worked with agreed that his perfectionism most often brought out the best in their performances.

Referenced in:

Woke Up This Morning – Alabama 3

1967 – John Coltrane dies

Loki — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:23:11 +0000

John Coltrane, born on September 23, 1926, is a legend of twentieth century jazz. He worked alongside other greats such as Thelonius Monk and Miles Davis. He pioneered Free Jazz, and made more than fifty recordings in the twelve years of his career.

Coltrane died from either liver cancer or hepatitis, depending on who you believe, but either way, his heroin use was almost certainly a contributing factor.

Referenced in:
Woke Up This Morning – Alabama 3

1964 – Eric Dolphy dies

Loki — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:23:27 +0000

Born in 1928, Eric Allan Dolphy first came to prominence as a member of Miles Davis’ jazz quintet. He played bass clarinet, alto saxophone and flute. In the early Sixties, he became a recognized jazz leader himself. An exponent of free jazz, Dolphy’s improvisational style was so original and avant garde that he frequently transcended the boundaries of that form.

On June 28, he collapsed into a diabetic coma while in Berlin. Despite being rushed to hospital, he died the next day. A journalist once wrote of his music that it was “too out to be in and too in to be out” – a fitting epitath for a man who recognized few limits in his art.

Referenced in:
Woke Up This Morning – Alabama 3

1989 – ‘Epitaph’ by Charles Mingus is first performed live

Loki — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:23:07 +0000

Mingus never believed that his ground-breaking composition would be performed while he lived – hence his title. He stated that he had written it “for my tombstone.” If it was an epitaph, it could scarcely have been a better one, for all that it was more than a decade since his death.

The manuscript was only found after his death, when Mingus’ works were being catalogued. In this, its first performance, the concert was produced by Sue Graham Mingus, his widow, and played by a 30-piece orchestra conducted by Gunther Schuller. Schuller later stated that Epitaph was “among the most important, prophetic, creative statement in the history of jazz,” and The New Yorker wrote that Epitaph represents the first advance in jazz composition since Duke Ellington’s Black, Brown, and Beige which was written in 1943.

Referenced in:
Woke Up This Morning – Alabama 3

1976 – Howlin’ Wolf dies

Loki — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:23:07 +0000

Born Chester Arthur Burnett in 1910, there have been few bluesmen to equal to the talent of Howlin’ Wolf. His unusual name derives from his early (and notably unsuccessful) attempts to yodel – he sounded more like a howling wolf, and the name stuck.

Wolf’s career stretched over a quarter of a century, from 1951 until his death. He probably would have had a longer musical career had he not served in the military during World War Two, and his career would no doubt have brought him more joy had his mother not believed it to be ‘devil’s music’. Wolf died in Hines VA Hospital in Hines, Illinois, mourned by a generation of bluesmen he influenced and a legion of fans the world over.

Referenced in:
Woke Up This Morning – Alabama 3