Gabbard, however, through his examination of the forces both internal and external that shaped Mingus and his art throughout his colorful life, paints a subtle psychological profile that attempts to get under the skin and into the mind-set of his subject, and this he does with some degree of success. Gabbard draws heavily from the two pre-eminent books on Mingus, Brian Priestley's Mingus: A Critical Biography (Quartet, 1982) and Gene Santoro's Myself When I Am Real: The Life and Music of Charles Mingus (Oxford University Press, 2000) and much of the author's biographical narrative will be quite familiar to Mingus fans: Mingus' upbringing in the Watts neighbourhood and his racial identity issues his early mentors, influences and collaborations his tireless creativity a conflictive personality that led to violent outbursts his mental health issues, etc. Instead, he was all of these and none of these," opines author Krin Gabbard in an often illuminating read that celebrates Mingus, the iconoclastic artist of voracious appetites.
"He could have become the Charlie Parker of the bass, the Duke Ellington of the small orchestra, or the eminence grise of the avant-garde. In terms of jazz history, Mingus was something of square peg in a round hole. Perhaps Mingus was simply too complex a figure, both as a character and as a prolific composer of wildly inventive music to invite easy literary description. Better Git It In Your Soul: An Interpretive Biography Of Charles MingusĬompared to other historically important jazz figures, few have been the books dedicated to Charles Mingus, which is strange given his enduring influence on modern jazz practitioners.
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