Mingus/Mingus: Two Memoirs

Janet Coleman and Al Young were University of Michigan English graduate students when they met Charles MINGUS in the late 1950's. In this slim volume, each writes separate but intertwined memoirs about their relationship as friend, editor, and fan with the great bassist/composer/bandleader. Their memories are fond, warm, personal, and humorous; their affection and something like awe are evident throughout the book. This was the period of such Mingus works as "Pithecanthropus Erectus" and "Ah Um." Both Coleman and Young followed Mingus to New York City, where at clubs like the Bohemia, Mingus' "Jazz Workshops" (people pay to hear us practice), musicians such as Jacki Byard, Dannie Richmond, Jimmy Knepper, Jackie McLean followed Mingus' spontaneously combusting arrangements. We get a glimpse of Mingus the musician, the writer, and general connoisseur of life. As Coleman puts it, I knew Mingus during "his Shotgun, Bicycle, Camera, Witchcraft, Cuban Cigar, and Juice Bar periods, and was familiar with his Afro, Egyptian, English banker, Abercrombie and Fitch, Sanford and Son, and ski bunny costumes. I ate his chicken and dumplings, kidneys and brandy, popcorn and garlic . . . " There are several good clues to the puzzle of Mingus' autobiography "Beneath the Underdog," a work which Coleman, among others, helped edit. I recommend reading "Mingus/Mingus" before tackling his Joycean autobiography.We also see the political Mingus, rightly protesting the treatment of black musicians, as well as racism and militarism generally. After all, this is the genius who wrote such pieces as "Oh, Lord, Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me (with the great line, "don't drop it, bebop it"), "Remember Rockefeller at Attica," and the great "Fables of Faubus," which courageously lambasted the segregationist governor. Cole's memoir is perhaps the more literary of the two (Coleman is a writer), and gives us a very personal view of Mingus' profound effect. Coleman may have been the closer friend and she offers some rarely heard and often humorous anecdotes. Both Coleman and Young knew Mingus for more than 20 years, and the book is rich with material recalling Mingus and the social and creative forces of the period: For example, Mingus played Genghis Kahn in a "psychedelic Western" written by Coleman's husband and filmed at Timothy Leary's ranch. Mingus criticizes Leary's approach: "You can't improvise on nothin', man. You gotta improvise on something." The book is filled with Mingus' humor and anger and appetites; his idealism and his realism. A titan of a man and at times, a study in contrasts, Mingus the subject is as compelling as the music he composed. (No index, but you get Mingus' recipe for eggnog!) Highly recommended, I just wish there were more to read! Highly recommended for fans of Mingus, jazz and the sociopolitical climate of the era.