The JC Group Giveaway/Review - Tonight At Noon by Sue Mingus

[Lois Gilbert]

http://jazzcornertalk.com/images/mingusfront.jpg

[Lois Gilbert]

http://jazzcornertalk.com/images/mingusback.jpg

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

I'm in. I know Sue has been a controversial figure, but Charles is my all-time favorite jazz artist, so I'm in.

We had a thread on the book a while back.

[Lois Gilbert]

Sue Mingus has kindly offered to the JC Group Giveaway/Review 10 copies of her self-penned Tonight At Noon. The is open for domestic only to the first 10 folks who did not a score Gary Giddin's book. Promises to be an interesting read.

So send vitals to me including
user name
real name
address
tel #
email

checking account # with routing (just want to see if your paying attention)

to lois@jazzcorner.com

[Lois Gilbert]

In addition, we are celebrating the Mingus Orchestra moving to its new home at Joe's Pub beginning a week from tonight, as well as the Big Band kicking off a world wide tour, plus the formation of Sue taking music into her own hands with the formation of her own label, SueCity to be distributed by Sunnyside.

For more info on all these projects, please visit http://mingusmingusmingus.com

We will be doing a live chat with Sue and some of the band members sometime in April...

[Valerie]

may i say for probably the hundredth time how much i loved this book. it's a fascinating read by a very talented writer!

[Ron Thorne]

I'm really glad that I already have a signed copy of this fine book, thanks to a certain special JC friend. ;)

I'm also thrilled that Patti and I will be able to witness the Mingus Big Band in-person on the stage of the Evangeline Atwood Concert Hall in the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts on April 30th.

http://www.alaskapac.org/images/site_graphics/theatres/atwood/atwood.jpg

I can't wait!

[jazzy mary]

This is a really good book. I really like Sue Mingus' writing. I see they've changed the cover. I got the book in hardback when it first came out. I think this cover is better. You ten winners: Enjoy!! It's a fascinating book.

[Gentle Giant]

His memoir is one of my all-time favorite books by and/or about music and musicians, so I'm curious to hear her perspective on this endlessly compelling figure.

[Boris Badenov]

I bought this in hardback and didn't regret a penny.

[Mike Schwartz]

may i say for probably the hundredth time how much i loved this book. it's a fascinating read by a very talented writer!

Ditto, every word Valerie said, plus Sue Mingus was kind enough to appear on the weekly broadcast when the book and Mingus Big Band CD of the same name came out during that time frame and toured.

[Lois Gilbert]

We have 5 left....

[Lois Gilbert]

I have 4 left...

[Valerie]

where are all the discriminating jazz readers?!?!? you're really missing out, big-time!

[jazzy mary]

where are all the discriminating jazz readers?!?!? you're really missing out, big-time!


That's for sure!

[hornplayer]

I hope I got my request in in time...

[Valerie]

I hope I got my request in in time...


hp: i'll be very interested in reading your "review"! so glad you're interested in reading it. i'm sure jm and i would be willing to place a bet that you'll enjoy it (although we have been wrong - but only once before)!!

[Lois Gilbert]

Sue read this thread last night and was quite flattered, but she didn't know she was a "controversial figure." according to Squaredance.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Let me preface this by saying that I adore Charles' music, know almost nothing about Sue, own the 'Revenge' set, and am very much looking forward to reading the book. If I like it well enough, I intend to choose it as my selection for my book discussion group -- I've been looking for a jazz book to bring to them.

My comment about Sue being controversial was based on the earlier discussion we had about this book. (I think it had a thread of its own, and I think it's in the Archives since my reguar search didn't find it and my Archives searches never work.) Several of the regular posters painted Sue Mingus in a less than flattering light and said they wouldn't buy the book because it was by her. I don't remember the specifics well enough to recount them, and I'm not especially interested in transforming the thread into something other than a celebration of the generous book offer. But since it was mentioned, I did want to respond.

[Ron Thorne]

Knowing you somewhat, I think it's safe to say that you'll dig this book on many levels, SDCSteve.

Frankly, I'm a little surprised that anyone would not characterize Sue Mingus as a "controversial figure". That's not a bad thing, simply a characteristic which probably fits well.

[Lois Gilbert]

I'm aghast - we have 3 left. What's up with that?
Best Lois

[Jesse]

Oh, hell, send me two. I'll find a home for it. ;)

[jazzy mary]

Hey Lois, If you'd like, send me one. I have lots of friends who love Mingus and who would love to be given a copy!

I didn't sign up for the giveaway as I already had a copy of this book in hardback and I felt others should get a chance. But, if I hadn't already had it and hadn't already read it--I would have been among the first to go for it!

[Gentle Giant]

True, reading requires a bit more effort than listening, but I, too, am surprised the urbane and highly literate folk here at the Corner aren't jumping over each other for the chance to read some free and likely highly entertaining and informative reading material.

I know when I get mine, I'm going to throw Let My Children Hear Music on the stereo, lie down on the couch and get right to business.

[Valerie]

I'm aghast - we have 3 left. What's up with that?
Best Lois


i would assume that folks just don't want to commit to reading a full book within a certain amount of time and have that obligation hanging over their head. can't imagine any other reason. i have already read this marvelous book twice and am about to begin reading the "artist's proof" or whatever the editor's draft is called!

[hornplayer]

I'm really looking forward to digging into it!

[Alastair]

If you open the giveaway to non-US posters, please put me top of the list.

[Darryl G. Thomas]

Hey hook me up.

[jesus marion joseph]

Not sure if oyu have any copies left, but I'd be interested if you do. Took me since Thursday to figure out how to enter the giveaway. I'm a little slow.

[jazzy mary]

This book is so readable and so well written--it wasn't "work" at all. It read like a wonderful novel to me!

It's an amazing story and told with real honesty--at least that's how it felt to me. There was something else I read by Sue--an article, I think, that I was also very impressed by. Does anyone know what else she has written and where it can be found? Thanks.

[Mike Schwartz]

jm,

If I remember correctly some of Sue's writing history is mentioned on the jacket or somewhere in the book [it's at home and I'm at the office]

[Jaleel]

Are there any more left???

[Ron Thorne]

I'm so excited! Next weekend my wife and I are headed for California for a vacation and to see our two sons, daughter-in-law and six month old grandson. We'll be gone until April 25th.

On April 30th, we'll be sitting in prime seats to see and hear The Mingus Big Band in the Evangeline Atwood Concert Hall at the Alaska Center For The Performing Arts. I purchased our tickets last night. We'll be seated in the center section on the Orchestra Level.

http://www.alaskapac.org/images/site_graphics/theatres/atwood/atwood.jpg

Better Git It In Your Soul, Baby.

[hornplayer]

Lois I emailed you that I'd like a book back when you'd posted that you had four left. I haven't received the book yet. Just wondered if it had been sent.

[Lois Gilbert]

I apologize to everyone that I didn't post the winners. So here they are

Sue sent the list to the publisher, but asked me to follow up which I will do on Monday. Congrats all.


Chaz Longue
South Burlington VT 05403

hornplayer
Jersey City, NJ

Gentle Giant
Melrose, MA

Jim Dye
Murfreesboro, TN

Squaredancecalling Steve
Healdsburg CA

Jesse
mpls/mn.

Steve(thelil)
New York, NY

Sonic1
Tucson AZ 85705

Darryl G. Thomas
Upper Marlboro, MD

jmeach21
Boston, MA

[sonic1]

wo hoo!

[Gentle Giant]

Received my copy yesterday and thumbed through it last night. I'm looking forward to starting it as soon as I complete the book I'm in right now (Huck Finn - for the first time, if you can believe it!).

Thank you, Lois.

[jazzy mary]

GG, Huck Finn is one of my all time favorite books!! I envy your reading it for the first time? Have you read Tom Sawyer?

[José Domingos Raffaelli]

I wish I lived up there to get my own copy.

I met Sue Mingus four different times: in 1977, when she came in Rio with the Mingus Quintet (Jack Walrath. Ricky Ford, Bob Neloms, CM and Dannie Richmond), in 1980 with the Mingus Dynasty in São Paulo (Randy Brecker, Jimmy Knepper, George Adams, Hugh Lawson, Mike Richmond and Dannie Richmond), in 1996 with the Mingus Big Band for the Free Jazz Festival (when I conducted an extended interview with her) and in 1998 when I attended the Mingus Big Band at the Time Café (before the concert I had a long talk with her and my very good friend Frank Tafuri, owner of the OmniTone Record Company). Wonderful memories of a very nice and intelligent woman.

[jazzy mary]

I know Frank Tafuri. He's a nice cat who really cares about the music.

[Gentle Giant]

GG, Huck Finn is one of my all time favorite books!! I envy your reading it for the first time? Have you read Tom Sawyer?
No. I was just marveling to my colleagues how no Twain was ever taught in any of my classes. Over the past several years, I've been seeking out things that a well-educated adult should have read that I hadn't (and keep in mind I'm a professional writer), such as Crime and Punishment, The Stranger, Light in August, The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Invisible Man, Emerson, Shakespeare, etc. It's fun on the subway to look around at people reading the "book club book du jour" while I'm ensconced in a true classic of literature.

[jazzy mary]

Oh, then you must read "Tom Sawyer". You'll love that too. And while you're at it, have you read "The Brothers Karamazov". That's the BEST. But after Tom Sawyer (you HAVE to read that after Huck) do read Sue's book!! :)

[Jesse]

Lois,
My copy of Tonight At Noon arrived today. I hope you will forward my thanks to Sue Mingus.
Awaiting the usual info. as to what you expect in terms of reviews, deadlines, etc.

Best
Jesse

[Jim Dye]

I received my copy over the weekend. Thank you very much, Lois Gilbert and Sue Mingus!

[Gentle Giant]

I received my copy over the weekend. Thank you very much, Lois Gilbert and Sue Mingus!
Avatar of the year goes to Jim Dye!

[Chaz Longue]

Went to pick mine up at Fed Ex on Friday.
The address had become garbled, but of course they found me.

I'll be reading it as soon as the goddamned taxes are filed. Honest. I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks, Sue.

Thanks, Lois.



Chaz

[jazzy mary]

I think you'll like it, chaz.

[Lois Gilbert]

Since I didn't get my copy yet - can you tell me how many pages the book is?

Thanks Lois

[Jim Dye]

Lois: 266 pages.

GG: Thanks!

[Lois Gilbert]

So how about 26 pages each - easy right...


Chaz Longue pgs 1-26
South Burlington VT 05403

hornplayer pgs 27-53
Jersey City, NJ

Gentle Giant pgs 54- 80
Melrose, MA

Jim Dye pgs 81-107
Murfreesboro, TN

Squaredancecalling Steve 108-134
Healdsburg CA

Jesse 135-161
mpls/mn.

Steve(thelil) 162-188
New York, NY

Sonic1 189-215
Tucson AZ 85705

Darryl G. Thomas 216-242
Upper Marlboro, MD

jmeach21 243-266
Boston, MA


How does that sound?

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Got my copy today -- many thanks to Sue and Lois!!

Flipping through, I see chapter epigraphs from Thomas Bernhard(!), Octavio Paz and The Bhagavadgita. Looking forward to reading it!

[Gentle Giant]

I wish there was an index. The other night, while listening to Joni, I picked up the book and scanned for references to the Mingus project.

I s'pose it wouldn't hurt to start with 54-80, and then go back and start from the beginning. I'll be several hours in the car this weekend driving to DC, so I can get some reading in while the wife is behind the wheel.

[Jim Dye]

How about we each do one chapter? There are 11 total plus an epilogue. chapter 11 is only 4 pages so perhaps the last person can do 10 and 11?

[Lois Gilbert]

Jim that sound's fine. As I said I don't have a copy, I guess mine is due to arrive so I love that idea...

so can everyone please check in and we'll just take chapters...

thanks Lois

[Jesse]

Lois:

I thought the random assignment of a certain allotment of pages was arbitray & haphazard. For example, the pages suggested for me were sort of incidental bits I wouldn't "review" or reference otherwise. Glad you're receptive to another approach.

I'd like to read it, & perhaps post about the whole book, focusing on a few points of personal interest. I vow not to post a 10,000 word snooze.

Or, I can simply respond to a single chapter. :)

[Gentle Giant]

Jim that sound's fine. As I said I don't have a copy, I guess mine is due to arrive so I love that idea...

so can everyone please check in and we'll just take chapters...

thanks Lois
Going from the top of the last list, it looks like Chapter 3 is mine. I will proceed with that plan unless I hear otherwise.

[jazzy mary]

Lois:

I thought the random assignment of a certain allotment of pages was arbitray & haphazard. For example, the pages suggested for me were sort of incidental bits I wouldn't "review" or reference otherwise. Glad you're receptive to another approach.

I'd like to read it, & perhaps post about the whole book, focusing on a few points of personal interest. I vow not to post a 10,000 word snooze.

Or, I can simply respond to a single chapter. :)


In addition to the chapter reviews, I'd love to hear everyone's, who cares to , review of the whole book!

[Valerie]

i really don't understand why everyone isn't reviewing the complete book. i'm assuming if folks signed up to receive the free book (which is an extremely cool deal!) that they're intending to read it. i can't imagine that even reviewing chapters makes much sense. but wtfdik!!

[jazzy mary]

I figured that everyone would, of course, read the whole book but only had to "review" one chapter. If the reviewers only read one chapter, they will miss out on the continuity of the story Sue tells.

[Gentle Giant]

I think it's just a question of how quickly people can commit to dropping some feedback on the book here. Send me a free CD, I can tell you what I think in about an hour. Send me a book, and you gots to wait a while longer!

[Valerie]

i just think reading/reviewing a chapter doesn't make much sense. obviously it will be totally out of context. whatever.

[Mike Schwartz]

I've read the book...it's a compelling read, and moves right along.

The notion of assigning chapters to a book that is a continuous dialogue [for lack of another term] seems goofy, to be kind.

It made perfect sense on the Giddens book, where chapters covered specific topics...makes none in this case.

Suggestion:
Book Review by May 10th [or some other agreed date] some 3 weeks or so from now...

[Lois Gilbert]

This is totally open to discussion - let's say read the whole book or as much as you can and give feedback by May 10th. I just didn't know since I don't have the book.

Then we are planning to schedule a live chat with Sue and some of the Mingus group(s) for later in May...

Best Lois

[Valerie]

Then we are planning to schedule a live chat with Sue and some of the Mingus group(s) for later in May...

Best Lois

how exciting!! i'll certainly look forward to that! i'm also looking forward to seeing them next week at ucla.

[jazzy mary]

That is exciting. I have not been able to get onto the live chats in the past. I tried repeatedly when JC had the Gary Giddens' chat but just wasn't able to get on. I wonder what I can do to help that?
Anyone have any ideas?

[hornplayer]

I've read the book...it's a compelling read, and moves right along.
Exactly what I logged on here to say, Mike. and I can't imagine reviewing any chapter without the rest of the book.

[Lois Gilbert]

So May 10 for a group review... Is that cool with everyone?

Forget the chapters. forget the page requirements. Read as much as you can and whatever input you can give ok?

[Bonomo]

You can't ignore Mingus. I've watched people trying to do so.

[hornplayer]

So May 10 for a group review... Is that cool with everyone?
I can "play" if it's in the evening, EDT. I can't count on being able to even get on at the sdj.

[Valerie]

I can "play" if it's in the evening, EDT. I can't count on being able to even get on at the sdj.

i think what lois means is that the posting deadline will be may 10th for the reviews.

[Darryl G. Thomas]

Lois,

First off, I got the book awhile back and thanks.

May 10th is cool. I started the book when I got it in the mail but I put it down (not because of the content, I was enjoying it, but I think I'm developing ADD in my dotage).

[Lois Gilbert]

Just to clarify yes the review of the book will be May 10th..

Live Chat - Sue is in Malaysia now (I think) and will be back in mid May and then we'll do a live chat. Don't worry there will be plenty of announces.

Best Lois

[Valerie]

Just to clarify yes the review of the book will be May 10th..

Live Chat - Sue is in Malaysia now (I think) and will be back in mid May and then we'll do a live chat. Don't worry there will be plenty of announces.

Best Lois


i'm happy to say that sue is here in l.a. after just arriving from kuala lumpur! i'll be seeing her this evening and hearing some great music from the big band!

[jazzy mary]

Have fun, Val!!

[Valerie]

Have fun, Val!!


thanks, honey, and i'll see you in june and we'll go and hear them together!!

xoxo

[Lois Gilbert]

Hi Val

Yes do please tell her that we're anxious to do the live chat with her and hope she's had a safe wonderful journey

[Valerie]

Hi Val

Yes do please tell her that we're anxious to do the live chat with her and hope she's had a safe wonderful journey


i'll be most happy to deliver the message, lois. i sure am one of those folks who will be looking forward to the live chat!

xoxo

[jazzy mary]

thanks, honey, and i'll see you in june and we'll go and hear them together!!

xoxoCool!!

[JazzJunkie]

I'm picking this book up on my next Amazon run and hopefully I'll get it/read it in time for the thing.

Also, this just in from Carnegie Hall: (carnegiehall.org)

Neighborhood Concert: The Mingus-Mahanthappa Group
South Street Seaport
Friday, April 22, 2005 at 7:00 PM

The Mingus-Mahanthappa Group

Bassist Kevin Ellington Mingus and alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa represent a new generation of American jazz musicians who portray the culture of their ancestry through their music. Drawing from African-American and South Asian creative traditions, they have gained recognition from audiences, musicians, and critics alike as world-class improvisers, composers, and outspoken young voices of their respective diasporas. Mingus is carrying on the innovative tradition of his grandfather, jazz legend Charles Mingus, while Mahanthappa has developed a sound influenced by the music of his Indian ancestry combined with the innovative jazz traditions of John Coltrane and Charlie Parker. Since 1996, Mingus and Mahanthappa have performed together across North America in duo, trio, and quartet settings, playing their cutting-edge original music to widespread acclaim.

[Valerie]

i'll be most happy to deliver the message, lois. i sure am one of those folks who will be looking forward to the live chat!

xoxo


well, with all the excitement last night, i forgot to mention the "live chat" to sue. but, guess what, i'm driving up to santa barbara tomorrow to catch them again! they were fabulous last night, as always, and i'm taking advantage of having them in my "neighborhood"!

[jazzy mary]

Today is Mingus' birthday, too!

[Jesse]

4/22/22 Charles Mingus

Happy birthday to the extraordinary, beautiful, tempest incarnate, who stopped my mind 30 years ago with his music!

[jazzy mary]

Your mind has stopped? I was wondering what had happened to it! I'm joking!

If one were into "numerology" that birthdate would have to mean something! 2+2=4, then 22 (2+2 again) and then 22 again!

[Valerie]

If one were into "numerology" that birthdate would have to mean something! 2+2=4, then 22 (2+2 again) and then 22 again!

oh, yeah, jm, you're very right about that!! true of the day that jfk was taken from us also! very powerful, numerologically speaking.

[Jesse]

Your mind has stopped? I was wondering what had happened to it! I'm joking!


LOL.

Actualy, stopping the mind is my reference to those moments (rare) when I encounter something played, written, taught, that stops the automatic pilot of the mind-and confronts me with something new, vital & energized to deal with.


If one were into "numerology" that birthdate would have to mean something! 2+2=4, then 22 (2+2 again) and then 22 again!

Sue Mingus says something about this, about 1/2 way through her book. Such patterns were not lost on her, nor her husband.

[jazzy mary]

I know what you mean, Jesse! I probably should re-read "Tonight at Noon", too.

[Ron Thorne]

I'm still reeling from seeing/hearing The Mingus Big Band tonight, and meeting Sue Mingus in-the-flesh. Patti and I dug it, big time. More later today, I promise.

Whoa!

[Valerie]

I'm still reeling from seeing/hearing The Mingus Big Band tonight, and meeting Sue Mingus in-the-flesh. Patti and I dug it, big time. More later today, I promise.

Whoa!

I can hardly wait!!!

[Ron Thorne]

What a phenomenal experience the Mingus Big Band was last night. Seated to our right was a very enthusiastic young couple celebrating the young man's birthday with Mingus' music. I was impressed by their interest, respect and enthusiasm. Immediately in front of us was a man Patti works with at the UAA/APU Consortium Library and his wife, and a few seats to the left in the same row with us was our good friend, bassist Ray Booker. We were in good company in a nearly full house at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts.

Before introducing Sue Mingus, a representative from the Anchorage Concert Association announced that next season will mark the first full dedicated jazz series in the history of the organization. The crowd went wild with applause, naturally.

Sue Mingus came on stage, dressed entirely in black to introduce the band, beginning with the introduction of Musical Director, Craig Handy. First, she commented on how few Alaskans were actually born in Alaska, having discovered that interesting fact the night before in Fairbanks. Then, Sue went on at length about how wonderful our Anchorage Museum of History and Art is, juxtaposing that and other significant cultural and artistic endeavors with what she termed America's current embrace of "generic culture". That observation received immediate applause.

When the band members confidently strolled on stage the place went nuts for several minutes before Craig Handy could even speak and introduce the first piece ... Don't Let It Happen Here. What a magnificent ensemble, filled with extraordinary soloists, but at its core, an ensemble with wonderful unison playing and exquisite use of dynamics. Mingus' signature was immediately detectable in the arrangements of these masterful tunes.

After the 2nd piece finished (can't remember the title) and Craig Handy was deciding what to launch next, an audience member suggested Fables of Faubus. Craig looked at his band mates, said something, then turned to the audience and said, "we don't usually take requests, but we're going to make an exception right now -- we'd like to peform Fables of Faubus for you, as suggested."

Fortunately, some season ticket holders will learn to appreciate a new genre by attending such an event which they otherwise might not consider. Unfortunately, some season ticket holders don't understand the concept of Charles Mingus being not only a revered musician and composer but also an outspoken critic and political activist. When the piece finished, Craig Handy explained the significance of the title (referencing Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus) and the impetus for the composition. He went on to say that if we heard the names Bush and Rumsfeld being uttered in an unflattering way by any band members during that piece, our hearing was probably OK. That's when Bozo #1 in front of us exclaimed "play the music, blah, blah, blah ..." It was all I could do to keep quiet, believe me.

Wham Bam, Thank You, Ma'am took us to intermission. Patti and I had a glass of cabernet awaiting us, and took our wine and this 20 minute opportunity to go downstairs to the mezzanine and introduce ourselves to Sue Mingus who was dutifully signing autographs of her book, Tonight at Noon. We extended greetings from Valerie and Lois which brought a smile to her lips. She then launched into yet another lengthy, excited discussion about our museum and how she wished she had more time and could have stayed there all day. She also mentioned the potential for something in the future telated to Jazz Corner, for which I'll await Lois' further comments. She was very gracious and when asked if she would mind if I took her photograph said she'd be honored.

http://photos11.flickr.com/11827371_47c2b776c8.jpg

Sue Mingus - April 30, 2005


The 2nd set opened with Devil Woman, I believe. Trombonist Ku-umba Frank Lacy (also the group's dedicated vocalist) tore it up! What a character. In fact, near the end of the concert, he and pianist Kenny Drew, Jr. began dancing and goofing together near the piano, much to the delight of everyone, including their fellow musicians.

To hear a repertory band such as this with such superb masters as Frank Lacy, Ronnie Cuber, Earl McIntyre and Eddie Henderson, in addition to younger monsters such as trumpeter Ryan Kisor, pianist Kenny Drew, Jr. and saxophonist Jaleel Shaw on the same stage is indeed an rare treat. Also, I could only imagine the tremendous weight which must be on the shoulders of young bassist Boris Koslov as he performs the work of Mingus, and in tonight's performance, on one of Charles Mingus' basses, one with a carved lion's head on the headstock. What an incredible musician! And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention how impressed I was by the sensitivity and absolute artistry of drummer Jonathon Blake, who finally got some space for some solo work on Moanin' during the encore.

In between Devil Woman and Moanin' we road the Mingus Musical Rollercoaster on Haitian Fight Song and Cumbia & Jazz Fusion (Another killer vocal insertion from Ku-umba Frank Lacy - Mammy's Little Baby, etc.)before the band and lights faded out to the strains of Better Get Hit In Your Soul.

What an evening. I was thoroughly drained but exhilarated. We went for a cool down cocktail at a local restaurant and listened to a jazz duo before heading home.

"The hippest big band in the universe
- robust, earthy, sanctified."
- Time Out New York

[jazzy mary]

Sounds like a wonderful night, Ron! Thanks for telling us about it!

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Thanks, Ron -- sounds like a great show! I didn't realize Craig Handy was leading this group -- I've heard him a couple of times in recent years here in town, and enjoyed his playing.

[Gentle Giant]

I like Handy, too, and am sure he brings a lot of energy to his important role. Sounds like a wonderful event, made all the better by being able to speak with Sue. I'm about halfway through the book and I'm enjoying it a lot. I do have some issues to raise in my review, which I'm looking forward to creating once I'm through, but it's definitely a very moving and personal memoir.

[Gentle Giant]

The tone and pacing of Tonight at Noon: A Love Story, Sue Graham Mingus’ exquisitely rendered and highly moving memoir, gives one the feeling of being told these stories face to face in her own living room over tea. While not overly revealing, she deals honestly and fairly openly about her society upbringing, her first marriage, and the many ups and downs of her relationship with Charles Mingus. It sheds considerable light on his dynamic and peculiar personality and work habits, though offers quite a bit less insight on his music. In particular, while Let My Children Hear Music is presented as a pivotal release in his later career, little is said about its content and intent. Similarly, we learn a lot about her thoughts and feelings concerning how she was treated and spoken to by her father and Mingus, but not as much about her own parenting and her relationships with others.

This is really two books in one: the first half jauntily covers the period from when they met in 1964 to the onset of his illness in 1977; while the second half is a more painstakingly detailed account of the final 21 or so months of his life. Personally, while the latter chapters are highly gripping and emotional, I would have appreciated more detail in the first half of the book. Their relationship seems to begin unintentionally and continue largely due to inertia. She reveals more about what caused their breakups than about why they remained drawn to each other. Still, it is indeed a love story, as their pursuit of love – or perhaps more accurately, love’s pursuit of them – is the ostinato pattern that drives the rhythm of the narrative.

I enjoyed this book very much, and so want to dispense with my few minor nits before going further into specifics of what I enjoyed. First, the photo reproductions are far from professional book quality. This is a shame as many are rare and wonderful.

Also, an editor’s oversight seems to have delayed the description of a character in her first appearance. At the top of page 51, Sue writes, “We’d had drinks at Peggy Hitchcock’s Park Avenue apartment earlier….” But it is only on page 53 that we learn who she is: “Charles and I were headed north to the Hitchcock mansion in upstate New York where Charles was an occasional guest of his close friend Peggy and her brother Billy….”

Finally, I feel that Sue is somewhat guilty of name-dropping. Certainly, given her own worldliness and her relationship with a famous musician, one expects to see mentions of other notable people as their orbits overlap. And indeed, there are wonderful anecdotes of encounters with Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and others. On a couple of occasions, however, I questioned the value and validity of naming a name without that name having a real impact on the narrative.

For example, on page 96, Sue writes, “The following year my children and I returned from our rental on the lake and moved into an apartment belonging to the photographer Diane Arbus. It was on Tenth Street opposite St. Mark’s-in-the-Bowery Church, three blocks away from our old apartment. Like some other churches in Manhattan, St. Mark’s had become a cultural center for poetry readings, dance programs, and theatrical productions, a few of which were directed by the playwright Sam Shepard, who shared an apartment with Charles’ son Charles the Third….” So what?

Later, we learn that Norman Mailer joins Mingus in chasing a heckler out of a club, and that Mingus rebuffs Jean Genet’s conversation-starter. Again, big whoop. On the other hand, mentioning that she once shared an office with a pre-Screw magazine Al Goldstein seems more genuine and relevant because it places her in the often-chaotic and confusing grey area between the comfort of her society upbringing and the more “dangerous” life she was carving out for herself.

Sue’s recording of Mingus’ thoughts on a wide range of issues makes for a fascinating read, and provides clues into what made this complex genius tick. I loved how, on pages 84-85, she wrote, “He was so worried he might fail to express something on his mind that he was compelled to state it instantly, examine it, get a reaction to it. … Sometimes I thought if he failed to express himself – every fact raging inside his head – to the world around him, he would go out of this mind.” And so we learn that he didn’t dig the free jazzers because they weren’t serious enough.

I also liked his anti-drug riff to Timothy Leary, who was offering to turn Mingus on to LSD: “You’ve got nothing for Harlem, man. Nothing for the workers, the people who go to their jobs, the people who get up at six.” What I took from this is that Mingus viewed the 60’s drug thing as being a white, middle-class teen experience. And, thinking back, maybe it was. So what of the blacks, poor people, and grown-ups of the era? Well, maybe that’s who he was composing and performing for.

One of the most insightful comments she makes in the book is on page 91: “Artists get away with their ambiguities and immoralities because they leave something behind, maybe not to their own children, but to the world. The rest of us leave our children behind, whose judgment will add to our own.” These two sentences say a lot about what is largely left between the lines of this book: the difficulty of living with a genius, of asserting your own priorities and worth in the company of such a man, of trying to break from your past while continuing to use it as a lens to judge what you see and hear before you. Without painting herself as a victim, Sue succeeds in making the reader feel great sympathy for her.

Of course, the second half of the book, charting Charles’ illness and death, is the part that hits most deeply, and stays in one’s mind the longest. I have a friend whose mother has ALS and they both campaign actively in support of funding and research for this awful affliction. The story on page 132 about Red Mitchell visiting Mingus in the hospital and being asked to play his bass for him reminded me of a similar incident in a biography I have of cellist Jacqueline du Pre, who also had to deal with her body's betrayal of her soul. Yet, even given the hopelessness and helplessness of American doctors, it was frustrating to read of all the voodoo mumbo-jumbo these intelligent people subjected themselves to. I kept wishing that noted debunker James Randi had come along with them to meet Pachita.

And among the iguana blood potions and the baked potato and excrement treatments for boils, there is Joni Mitchell in sunny California working on what was to be his final collaboration. Again, we learn very little about the music-making process here. In fact, I am now officially puzzled about something: Mingus gave Joni six compositions to work with. The resulting album features four Mingus compositions; one of which, “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat,” predates this project. So whatever happened to the other three?

It was great fun to read this book with Mingus music playing in the background (I also read while listening to a video of his Oslo concert in 1964, trying hard not to look up from the book, but I had to during Dolphy's solos). I am grateful to Sue Graham Mingus for putting these treasured experiences down on paper for others to enjoy, and to the publisher and Lois for making free copies available. I heartily recommend this book as a companion to Mingus’ autobiography, Beneath the Underdog, and to those wishing to learn more about the New York jazz scene of the 1960s.

[Ron Thorne]

Thanks for your personal reflections and insights, Jason. They're wonderfully expressed and handily connected.

[Valerie]

thanks for your review, GG. i enjoyed reading it.

[jazzy mary]

Moi aussi!

[Lois Gilbert]

Is everybody ready with their reviews today?

Thanks Lois

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

My dear Webmistress,

I've never been as much as a day late for one of these before, but this time
I'm going to need to plead for an extension, due to two weeks of dental hell, which threw everything off.

I'm now in the midst of my typical Manic May, calling 7 nights a weeks plus 3-4 days in the schools, so time is hard to find, but I think I can manage a review by the beginning of next week.

I can bring a note from my dentist if you want :) Or you can ask Sergio, who came to a dance I did for Mormons right after my most heavily medicated period.

[JazzJunkie]

Thanks for the extremely insightful review GG. You very thoughtfully articulated many of my impressions.

I enjoyed this book very much. The love story of of Sue and Charles Mingus presents itself here very much like a John Irving family meets "Sex and the City" in D.M. Thomas's "White Hotel"; there is great symbolism and irony in their world, a potent concentration of the things we simultaneously lust after and fear, all heightened by the fact that these lives were actually lived.

[hornplayer]

This may be written in sections, but I'll get started...

I really wish I'd written this review right after I finished reading "Tonight at Noon," because I would have more of the specifics fresh in my memory.

I really enjoyed reading the book... had trouble putting it down, for a whole host of reasons. First of all, I loved reading about the New York Jazz scene of the 60's. That was before I lived here, and I felt like I was being taken on a guided tour of the city as it was then.

Sue is an excellent storyteller. imo, she engages the reader with her word pictures. The story of her romance with Charles rang rather familiar, as I have also been involved with men of the artistic persuasion, and so identified with much of the self-centerdness... If the romance and relationship had been all the book was about, it would have been an interesting read. What sets the book "up there" in my estimation was the tragic story of Charles' illness; the onset, the denial, the search for a way, any way to keep him alive and out of pain. Sue captured the maelstrom that became their lives in such a vivid way, as well as the sadness she felt.

(more later)

Finally, I feel that Sue is somewhat guilty of name-dropping. Certainly, given her own worldliness and her relationship with a famous musician, one expects to see mentions of other notable people as their orbits overlap. And indeed, there are wonderful anecdotes of encounters with Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and others. On a couple of occasions, however, I questioned the value and validity of naming a name without that name having a real impact on the narrative.

I found GG's comment above interesting, because I didn't find Sue's mention of well known people the least bit gratuitous. These were the people she and Mingus interacted with on a daily basis, and altho when she mentioned people who are unfamiliar to most of the potential readers of the book, she explained in detail who they were, and how they fit into their lives, I don't think there was any need for that in these other cases.

[Jesse]

"You are my enemy", Mingus shouted back. "You aren't helping me when I need you".

That stopped me cold for a moment. "Well, maybe I am".

It was a reply that suprised both of us.


Tonight At Noon is a love story, highly episodic, with Mingus supplying Sue, & everyone within his orbit, improbable & exhausting episodes. Episodes of public shame, great suffering, largeness of heart & tenderness, potent quotes, &, of course, great music.

I inventoried my Mingus collection prior to this memoir arriving, and spent some days listening to his staggering output. I have listened to Mingus since '71 or so, missing his Minneapolis performance in 1979 by days (I moved to the city several weeks after his appearance here). I had viewed the 1997 verite documentary by Don McGlynn, Triumph Of The Underdog, several times. Mostly, I spend time with his music, as I am disinclined to read in the extra-musical memoir genre, no matter my interest in an artist.

Taken as an episodic, dizzying, jump-cut portrait of an intimacy equal parts endurance contest, surreal amusement park ride, & deathless devotion, Tonight At Noon is quite engrossing. A reader in search of revelations or simply technical insights about the Mingus music will be unrewarded.

The omnivorous composer/improviser/arranger/musician is shown, recurringly, in the throes of creation & high dudgeon, incredible outbursts of fecundity & deflation. Up & down. Each pole is intense &, depending upon the duration, frequency & other variables, Mingus' cycles of creativity & despair could be devestating, comic, absurdly Quixotic, & very, very sad.

The courtship days are sketched, as noted by others here, without stopping for clarifying details or much in the way of linkage of time, events, etc. The Tempest pursues Sue with an admixture of affection, confrontation, mild scorn & tenacity. There is a sense of "Look out, here comes Mingus, wooing!"

Sue reports,
"I don't remember what happened after he called me the enemy. He was often theatrical. I might have opened the fridge & made a salad".

This might distill, as well as any "explanation" proffered by Sue, the grip on sanity & her own stake in the world she maintains, even as her beloved bete noire is firing off rounds, figurative & literal, in every direction. Sue is tireless in her tolerance for the Mingus hijinks, and at times I thought, "Get tired, already, this cat is a hurricane, disguised as a musical (& I intend the superlative) genius".

The wear & tear aside, they are married. And Sue offers a few lines that should penetrate the heart of any cynic or misanthrope, really beautiful lines:
"Afterward on the street waiting for a cab, the spring was cold & he gave me his Mexican shawl and stood behind me, his stomach nestled in my back, and held me tight and shook and trembled in the wind with cold and turned the shaking into a rhythm and sang about loving me in the snow and melting the ice until we were lying in the grass and it was summer and we were hot and perspiring and the cab came along and we jumped in, already warm./I]]"

I would add to Gentle's reference from page 91 on Mingus' force as an artist, a disclosure from the artist himself:
[I]He once told his friend record producer Neshui Ertegun that he was trying to play the truth of what he was.
"The reason it's difficult," he said, "is because I'm changing all the time."

Mingus could drop a one liner with zen master aplomb:
After hearing one set of the newly electrified Miles, Mingus is asked by Mile's manager, "Well what did you think?" "About what," Charles asked. "About the concert. What did you think of Miles?" "Miles?" Charles looked at him with suprise. "I didn't hear Miles."

Hanging with Tim Leary:
"And so I don't believe in chemicals. Not like Tim. You've got to wait years and years and find your own way naturally."



About his incredible composition Meditations On Integration, he said, "They don't have ovens & gas faucets in this country yet.But they have electric fences. So I wrote a prayer about some wire cutters."

Tonight At Noon is admirably averse to any whiff of hagiography, and almost equally avoidant of that bane of the memoir, too much muck shared. There are numerous scenes of Mingus' friends visiting him as he lay dying that might have been rendered with treacle or a false aura. They are instead quite moving, as Mingus was unsentimental about his own death, and his friends are portrayed as bearing the loss of their friend with immense care & humor.
Sue speaking:
"When I mention that a minister had called and might stop over, he was silent. He used the Bible recently only as a weight to press the damp thermo heating pad closer to his skin. "Maybe I'll get well," he said. "Or the opposite."


"There were times I wished I could have plunked down my money at the door, heard the extraordinary music, witnessed the prodigious event that was Charles, and drifted onto the street, a free woman."

An impossibilty, from the moment she returned to a club as a paying customer to hear Mingus the second time, to detach from his gravitational pull.
Sue Mingus seems, in this telling of her great love for him, and her releasing him to the pull of the Ganges, very free now.

[Valerie]

Jesse: Thank you SO much for your review. I actually relived parts in the book that I had read which also affected me deeply. Sounds like you could be a writer yourself!

[Ron Thorne]

Wonderful insights and carefully chosen words, Jesse. Nicely done.

[Gentle Giant]

"You are my enemy", Mingus shouted back. "You aren't helping me when I need you".

That stopped me cold for a moment. "Well, maybe I am".

It was a reply that suprised both of us.

Beautiful review, Jesse. I liked this quote a lot. As I read the book, I dog-eared pages that I knew I wanted to refer back to. I neglected to mention this quote in my review, but to me it signifies Sue's great inner strength. She was no starstruck bimbo, but a force of her own, and I'm guessing that Mingus never had a relationship with someone as able to 'give as good as she got" as was Sue. She could put Mingus 1, 2, and 3 in their places!

[Jesse]

Thanks for the kind words, all.

Jesse

[Jesse]

Chaz Longue
South Burlington VT 05403

hornplayer
Jersey City, NJ

Jim Dye
Murfreesboro, TN

Squaredancecalling Steve
Healdsburg CA


Steve(thelil)
New York, NY

Sonic1
Tucson AZ 85705

Darryl G. Thomas
Upper Marlboro, MD

jmeach2
Boston, MA
[/QUOTE]


Where are the reviews? Give me something to work with! :)

[hornplayer]

Jesse: I'm not sure what you need "to work with." You wrote a dynamite review of the book, extremely detailed, as if you had either just finished reading it and the material was very fresh in your mind, or you had taken copious notes, as if for a Lit assignment. You really took me back to my own reading of the book, which was probably too far behind my review....

It's up to the other reader/reviewers to write theirs.

[Jesse]

HornPlayer:

It's just an expression, "give me something to work with", like "show me something!". Offered here to encourage more takes on the Mingus memoir.

LOL at the copious notes thing! I am not organized enough to approach it that way. I am a life long cryptic-symbols-in-the-margins-annotator, which can direct me back to key passages, upon review.

The only writing I do is lists & posts. I used to write in journals, & some very specious poetry (but who hasn't?).

[hornplayer]

well, I agree, I hope more folks will post their impressions of the book. A friend recently asked to borrow it, and I said "No, get your own!"

[Gentle Giant]

I found GG's comment above interesting, because I didn't find Sue's mention of well known people the least bit gratuitous. These were the people she and Mingus interacted with on a daily basis, and altho when she mentioned people who are unfamiliar to most of the potential readers of the book, she explained in detail who they were, and how they fit into their lives, I don't think there was any need for that in these other cases.
I was thinking specifically of the examples I gave, that of Diane Arbus, Sam Shepard, Jean Genet, and (to a lesser extent, I guess, since he gets two mentions) Norman Mailer. These were people with whom Sue and Charles really didn't interact either at all or on a regular basis.

I'm surprised, actually, that I was the first one in with a review, since I didn't feel like I was reading it quickly. In fact, I felt guilty on days when I didn't have time to pick it up at all.

[Valerie]

I was thinking specifically of the examples I gave, that of Diane Arbus, Sam Shepard, Jean Genet, and (to a lesser extent, I guess, since he gets two mentions) Norman Mailer. These were people with whom Sue and Charles really didn't interact either at all or on a regular basis.



i didn't think of it as "name-dropping" since she didn't say that they knew them but the "connections" certainly added background, flavor, historical context, etc., but wasn't at all pretentious, imho.

[Gentle Giant]

i didn't think of it as "name-dropping" since she didn't say that they knew them but the "connections" certainly added background, flavor, historical context, etc., but wasn't at all pretentious, imho.
To use hornplayer's word, I found it more gratuitous than pretentious. And I don't mean it as a criticism of the author as a person, it just kind of stopped me in my reading and made me ask, "What's that have to do with anything?" Just a small complaint, really.

[Valerie]

To use hornplayer's word, I found it more gratuitous than pretentious. And I don't mean it as a criticism of the author as a person, it just kind of stopped me in my reading and made me ask, "What's that have to do with anything?" Just a small complaint, really.

understood, GG. and hope you understand how much i enjoyed your thoughtful review.

best,

valerie

[Gentle Giant]

I appreciate your comments, as well as those by Ron and others. All compliments, of course, ultimately belong to Sue.

[Gentle Giant]

No one else?

C'mon, people, War and Peace it ain't.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

I'm coming, I'm coming. So far this week I haven't been able to do much more than stagger from one gig to another like a drunken sailor, but there's a little slack (ie, only one dance today and then again Saturday), so I think I can manage it by this weekend.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Apologies again for the tardiness of the review. As I mentioned above, I had earmarked late April for doing this, but was waylaid by dental problems. As Milan Kundera writes, “I think therefore I am is the statement of an intellectual who underrates toothaches.” And my schedule in May is always too busy to try to do much more than show up and function. I did not finish reading the book until this weekend.

°°°°°°°°°°°°

Sue Mingus’s “Tonight At Noon” is a richly observed and penetratingly insightful portrait of one of the great composers of jazz. As a longtime fan of Mingus, I was pleased to find that the author illuminated many of the more difficult to understand facets of the man’s personality -- his seemingly irrational rages, his extreme quirkiness, the mental health issues, and the other personal matters that seemed to plague Mingus’s day-to-day life. For that reason, as well as for the many glimpses into Mingus and his world, the book is indispensable for diehard Mingus fans, like myself.

Jazz fans in general will find much to enjoy in the book, if only for the many bright anecdotes that enliven Sue’s text. One of my favorites is the recounting of a recording session Mingus attended in a wheelchair. Lee Konitz kept redoing his solos as they went through take after take, when the producer told Lee that they already had good takes of him,

“We need another bass solo. Yours doesn’t matter.”

“So I don’t need to play?” Lee asked.

“You just don’t need to play good,” drawled Pepper Adams from the baritone chair.

Or there was Mingus’s marvelously muted first reaction to first seeing the cover for Cumbia & Jazz Fusion:

It was underwear pink, and in the foreground sat a black man ten shades darker than Charles, against a background of jungle-pink leaves. The man wearing dark pants, a white shirt, and a black belt. He looked like someone we knew but he didn’t look like Charles. When I asked Charles what he thought of it, all he bothered to say was “The belt’s too thin.”

Or then there was the story of the time he left $10,000 in cash in a paper bag on the coat rack in a bar, or his shock and disappointment in hearing that he had finally won a Grammy.... for his liner notes, or the time in a Paris clinic that he received a dozen injections of lamb organs, and when he woke up the next morning he greeted Sue with

a long, low sound: “B-a-a-a-a-a-a...”

One of the more astonishing tales is of meeting Gerry Mulligan at an awards ceremony in the Jimmy Carter White House. Mulligan tells Mingus of a Mexican witch doctor who has healed ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease, which had already begun killing Charles), and this leads to the surreal closing scenes of the book, in which Mingus entrusts his medical well-being to a woman who operates with a kitchen knife and prescribes healing remedies involving dung and blood.

The sections devoted to Charles’ life following his being diagnosed with ALS are presented in more detail than the earlier parts. This is, after all, Sue’s book, and her central story is the tragedy of a marriage in which one of the mates is dying young -- slowly, incrementally, tortuously, unavoidably and maddeningly. Indeed, I think it is one of the book’s great strength’s that it so effectively portrays the draining frustration and heartbreak of a devoted caregiver to a terminally ill loved-one. And the isolation such a position creates: Sue goes to a party and barely speaks

to anyone. Real life, hip or ordinary, is now as removed from my current existence as someone else’s dream.

And later:

I have become a recluse of illness.

The book is about Sue’s life as well as Charles’. She describes her midwestern society upbringing, and her move to Europe, presumably as a continuation of that life. But then she meanders off into a marriage with an Italian sculptor, and think back upon:

the debutante balls at home, the steamer trunk full of long formal dresses I’d taken to Europe after college and never wore -- my life changing midstream in Paris... Those formal gowns I took abroad rotted inside my trunk in the basement of the American House at the Cite Universitaire along with several hundred other unreclaimed trunks belonging to young ladies, who, like me, moved into the ateliers of Paris and left their former lives and dresses behind with their luggage.

But Sue’s focus through most of the book is Charles, and as I mentioned earlier I think she does provide some important insights into his personality. Early on she retells a story of Bird and Mingus talking about Buddhism, when Bird said, “It’s time to go. Let’s finish this conversation on the bandstand.” Mingus’s comment on this was that he always knew Bird was as “superstitious” about the music as Mingus. Superstitious -- not spiritual, or philosophical, but superstitious. If it was not what Bird had in mind, it assuredly was what Charles had in mind. His life was filled with magical, non-rational thinking.

Sue is by nature skeptical of such thinking, but living with Charles has made her face so many “magical” events she is no longer so sure of her native midwestern, commonsense approach. First of all, simply the creative volcano that was Mingus was magic in itself. But, aside from the music, there are specific, bizarre events that she can only wonder at, such as the time she was awakened from a nightmare, and found Charles sitting up next to her, frightened, describing the woman in Sue’s nightmare, saying she had just been standing there in the room with them.

The magical thinking makes his late embracing of the Mexican witch doctor easier to understand, that along with the fact that, as Sue writes,

Like the others who were gathered there, we had nothing more to lose.

Sue also sheds light on many of Mingus’s more bizarre behavioral outbursts by putting them in the perspective of a man ruled by a vast inner landscape of imagination:

... reality itself was just a fraction of the show. How small, how limited and inconsequential it appeared, in contrast to the endless carnivals in his head.

Demons, conspiracies, eternal truths, betrayals, and more welled up within him and needed to be expelled:

He had to get the sperm, the sounds, the words, outside his house, his own cage. It was a constant throwing out.

Related to both his magical thinking and his outsized imagination were his issues regarding his own mental stability. Mingus checked himself into mental health facilities several times, and would have done so more often if he trusted them more. He considered his own sanity somewhat fragile. He tells Timothy Leary that he once went out of his mind on pot, and later confesses to Sue that it also once happened without anything.

For me, these insights into Mingus’s pesonality -- his magical thinking, his unignorably compelling imagination, and his sense of himself as having a tenuous hold on sanity -- shed light on much of his puzzling behavior. Not that they explain away the man, or the creative force of nature that he was. But that they give a context, a pattern of some kind of consistency to his seemingly often random behavior.

The story of Charles courting Sue is a hoot to read, although to her it must have seemed more like being pursued by a Special Forces Unit. She moves out, so he rents an apartment across the street from her and bombards her with spectacular light shows,

shining crosses, ejaculating phalluses,

and the neighbors all think he is brilliant, they love the shows! Another time, loudly protesting his love her from the street below, he is handcuffed and arrested, the police summoned by the owner of the car whose roof he was using as a platform. (He was bailed out the next morning by Atlantic’s Neshui Ertegun, a steadfast friend.)

The story of the steady decline of Mingus’s health is sad to follow. Initially he reacts to his illness with a singular combination of rage and serenity, but as the months wear on and hope wears thin, the spirit wanes, too. He considers suicide, she considers both mercy killing and murder-suicide, anything to end the endless ordeal, which

reduces everything that is human and sensitive to the ravings of a lonely creature throbbing in bed in the final spasms of protest.

The book closes with Sue founding and working with the Mingus Dynasty group, including some good stories of her days as a fledgeling manager; and this gives the book a positive finish, an affirmation of the enduring legacy of the music of Charles Mingus.

An essential book for Mingus fans, and highly recommended for all lovers of jazz.

###

[sonic1]

I promise to deliver something insightful sometime after this baby is born. My wife was due yesterday, and she has been having contractions and all...

...but the book has been a great read. I have read many bios on Mingus including his own autobio. This one is more a story of her and her experience, and of the later Mingus, which has always been lacking in the other bios. I promise more after everything settles here.

[Lois Gilbert]

I promise to deliver something insightful sometime after this baby is born. My wife was due yesterday, and she has been having contractions and all...

...but the book has been a great read. I have read many bios on Mingus including his own autobio. This one is more a story of her and her experience, and of the later Mingus, which has always been lacking in the other bios. I promise more after everything settles here.

Jared - that will be 18 years from now. Trust me!!! Don't worry about the book just be with you wife and new baby and please let us know when to get the cigars out.

Best Lois

[Jesse]

Nicely done, SQDCS. :)

Your review conveys the macabre elements of the Mingus story, of which there are an improbable number.

Intending neither pity nor awe, I really don't know how Sue prevailed. She lived with a hurricane & somehow held her ground.

The longer I hear Mingus (now about 30 years), the more confident I am that, while he has a few peers, no one in the area of "jazz" composition/arrangement/improvisation is larger.

[Gentle Giant]

Yes, very nice review Steve. You pulled out some very strong, resonant excerpts that made me smile in the memory of my enjoyment of those passages. I dare say that this book will stand up to repeated readings, as there are times when one is impatiently wanting to get to the next Mingus episode, but also times when Sue's own conflicts and situations offer compelling insights into the mind and challenges of a very intelligent and creative woman.

And Jared, best of luck with the birth!

Jesse: "She lived with a hurricane" brings to mind the title of my favorite track off of Let My Children Hear Music, "The I of Hurricane Sue." This book sheds light on his titles as well!

[Jesse]

Jesse: "She lived with a hurricane" brings to mind the title of my favorite track off of Let My Children Hear Music, "The I of Hurricane Sue." This book sheds light on his titles as well!


GG:

Yep. That's what occured to me, as well as Neil Young's Like A Hurricane.
I really dig that date as well, a regard not shared by all Mingus fans, as I recall from the Mingus thread several months ago...

[Lois Gilbert]

I made this a stick again since we are now planning our live chat with Sue and some members of the band for July....

Best Lois

[Gentle Giant]

Looking forward to it!

[Ron Thorne]

Me too!

Please post a list of band members as soon as you have their commitment so that we can be thinking of appropriate questions.

Thanks.

[Valerie]

I made this a stick again since we are now planning our live chat with Sue and some members of the band for July....

Best Lois

oh, yeah. can't wait!

[Mike Schwartz]

...soon to followed by a 2nd visit for Sue on my weekly radio/webcast Sunday 08/07/05

[Lois Gilbert]

As reference for the live chat tonight, I made this thread a sticky again.