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Tracklist (Vinyl)
A1 | | Better Git Hit In Your Soul | | 4:35 | A2 | | Goodbye, Porkpie Hat | | 7:00 | A3 | | Noddin Ya Head Blues | | 10:29 | B1 | | Three Or Four Shades Of Blues | | 12:03 | B2 | | Nobody Knows | | 10:06 |
* Items below may differ depending on the release.
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Review Creative disarray is so central to the Mingus image and the Mingus ensemble approach that the idea for this album isn't as risky as it may first appear. A few Atlantic artists plus a couple of other veterans join with the current Mingus quintet for five typically exhortatory performances. The presence of guitarists Larry Coryell, Philip Catherine and John Scofield is the real surprise, yet each is absorbed into the Mingus orbit with little difficulty.This is a fairly routine album in light of past Mingus achievements. For instance, "Better… Read More Git Hit in Your Soul," which finds Coryell and tenor saxophonist Ricky Ford getting hot over the racing gospel atmosphere, simply doesn't make it next to earlier performances of the piece. "Goodbye, Porkpie Hat" suffers similarly but has more interest thanks to the Django Rienhardt-like feel of Coryell and Catherine on acoustic guitars and George Coleman's eloquent alto. Of the three new pieces, two are straight-blowing tracks with mixed results. "Noddin Ya Head Blues," slow and Monkish, is long on atmosphere and too long on Coryell; "Nobody Knows" is more notable for its reworking of an old spiritual into uptempo be-bop than for the solos by Sonny Fortune, trumpeter Jack Walrath and the others. The multitextured title piece saves the album. A compendium of blues approaches, "Three or Four Shades" pays homage to Ellington, Basie and Parker via vintage Mingus writing and then slips in some "Caucasian folk blues" (actually the "Wedding March") for off-the-wall humorous effect. This track also has the most consistent solos, with Ford, Walrath, Coleman, Scofield and pianists Bob Neloms and Jimmy Rowles all taking concise, meaty turns. Mingus, who employs a second bassist on all tracks, sounds strong throughout, but he obviously didn't have an album's worth of inspiration on the level of "Three or Four Shades of Blue." (RS 249) BOB BLUMENTHAL |