Marchbanks
Hat and Beard member
Exactly 60 years ago the Charles Mingus (nominally) Sextet were on tour in Europe.
However, young Marchbanks - aged nearly eight at the time - had almost certainly never heard of Charles Mingus, and was probably only dimly aware of what jazz was. The closest he had got was a thorough grounding in Sinatra’s Capitol-era records received from his mother. Instead, he had of course been swept up by Beatlemania. His copy of Can’t Buy Me Love, the current UK number one, was probably on his Dansette, and he had been given his first LP - With The Beatles - the previous Christmas.
Old Marchbanks has slightly different musical priorities, and has accumulated a number of 1964 Mingus live recordings over the years. I decided to celebrate this by listening to as many of the performances as I could, on the correct dates, via my period-perfect 1964 Radford.
Mingus’ tour started in Amsterdam on April 10, followed by Hilversum, Oslo and Stockholm on consecutive nights. I hadn’t been aware that recordings of all bar Hilversum are now available - and when I realised, it was too late to include them in this project. Instead, I made do with listening to my copies of the pre-tour dates at Cornell University (March 18) and NYC Town Hall (April 4).
So we join Charles and band in Copenhagen, 60 years ago tonight. (Or rather last night, when I started writing this ramble.) Charles is in a bad, bad, bad temper. There’s been a disagreement over payment for a purchase in a shirt shop and he ended up in custody. Many barbed comments about the police follow (‘…they sometimes get Gestapo-like…’). There’s no Jaki Byard - ‘perhaps he’s been arrested too’ mutters Charles… and So Long Eric (‘he’s leaving America for more freedom over here…’) is performed without him. He’s arrived by the end so he plays his solo piece next, announced by Mingus as A.T. F.W. Y.O.U. POLICE. There’s no Sophisticated Lady - Mingus says his arm has been too badly hurt for him to play a solo piece. Meditations is suitably moody and ends with an ominous loud snare crack.
Things are less intense in the second set. Maybe the day’s events are starting to tell. Or maybe it’s because they are playing a fifth night on the trot in four different countries. Fables of Faubus seems a little more diffuse than usual over its half-hour plus. Charles thanks the ‘wonderful audience’ at the end, and off they go to the next date in Bremen.
See you there on the 16th!
However, young Marchbanks - aged nearly eight at the time - had almost certainly never heard of Charles Mingus, and was probably only dimly aware of what jazz was. The closest he had got was a thorough grounding in Sinatra’s Capitol-era records received from his mother. Instead, he had of course been swept up by Beatlemania. His copy of Can’t Buy Me Love, the current UK number one, was probably on his Dansette, and he had been given his first LP - With The Beatles - the previous Christmas.
Old Marchbanks has slightly different musical priorities, and has accumulated a number of 1964 Mingus live recordings over the years. I decided to celebrate this by listening to as many of the performances as I could, on the correct dates, via my period-perfect 1964 Radford.
Mingus’ tour started in Amsterdam on April 10, followed by Hilversum, Oslo and Stockholm on consecutive nights. I hadn’t been aware that recordings of all bar Hilversum are now available - and when I realised, it was too late to include them in this project. Instead, I made do with listening to my copies of the pre-tour dates at Cornell University (March 18) and NYC Town Hall (April 4).
So we join Charles and band in Copenhagen, 60 years ago tonight. (Or rather last night, when I started writing this ramble.) Charles is in a bad, bad, bad temper. There’s been a disagreement over payment for a purchase in a shirt shop and he ended up in custody. Many barbed comments about the police follow (‘…they sometimes get Gestapo-like…’). There’s no Jaki Byard - ‘perhaps he’s been arrested too’ mutters Charles… and So Long Eric (‘he’s leaving America for more freedom over here…’) is performed without him. He’s arrived by the end so he plays his solo piece next, announced by Mingus as A.T. F.W. Y.O.U. POLICE. There’s no Sophisticated Lady - Mingus says his arm has been too badly hurt for him to play a solo piece. Meditations is suitably moody and ends with an ominous loud snare crack.
Things are less intense in the second set. Maybe the day’s events are starting to tell. Or maybe it’s because they are playing a fifth night on the trot in four different countries. Fables of Faubus seems a little more diffuse than usual over its half-hour plus. Charles thanks the ‘wonderful audience’ at the end, and off they go to the next date in Bremen.
See you there on the 16th!
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