I Know What I Know: The Music of Charles Mingus

About the Book

From the mid-1940s until his death in 1979, Charles Mingus created an unparalleled body of recorded work, most of which remains available in the 21st century. While there have been several volumes devoted to Mingus's colorful and tumultuous life, this is the first book in the English language to be devoted fully to his music. General jazz fans as well as musicians and music students who would like a better understanding of Mingus's complex, often difficult music, will find a complete, chronologically arranged, listener's guide to all of his legitimate recordings, from the 78s he recorded in Los Angeles and San Francisco in the mid-1940s, through the legendary albums he made for Columbia, Candid, Atlantic, and his own labels. In the process of providing these in-depth examinations, Jenkins corrects common errors and clears away old misconceptions about certain recordings. His approach will illuminate long-obscure aspects of this imposing and incredibly creative man's contributions to the art of jazz.

Touching upon Mingus's many innovations as a jazzman, I Know What I Know explores his advancement of the art of bass playing; his assimilations of Ellington and Monk with ideas leaning toward free jazz; his experiments with ensemble dynamics, instrumentation, and extended form; and his working relationships with partners such as Jaki Byard, Eric Dolphy, Jimmy Knepper, and Dannie Richmond. The book provides a broad, informative overview of Mingus's work without veering into technical musical terminology. Readers without an extensive background in music will thus understand and appreciate the analyses provided, and be able to use them to enhance the experience of listening to the brilliant work of this legendary jazz great.

Table of Contents:

Foreword
A Note from Sue Graham Mingus
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Central Avenue Swing
New York and the Bebop Revolution
Breaking into Freedom
The Poetic Blues of Mingus
Triumph: Columbia Records, 1959
Into the Past, Into the Future
Resurgence: The Impulse Albums
The 1964 Tour
Falling Away
A Slow Climb
Denouement
Coda
Bibliography
Index

About the Author :
Todd S. Jenkins is the author of Free Jazz and Free Improvisation: An Encyclopedia (2004, Greenwood Press), and a contributor to Down Beat, All About Jazz, Signal To Noise and Route 66 Magazine. He is also a director of the American Jazz Symposium, a non-profit arts organization.

Review :
As an introduction to Mingus's music, this book is useful. In this book, Todd Jenkins guides the reader through the large body of Mingus's work, astutely analyzing the music, with well-considered critiques thrown in for good measure. His description is detailed and serves the reader well, going as far as to pinpoint the exact time at which a change in the performance occurs….Jenkins's knowledge and lucid writing style make this book a thorough and entertaining treat. [B]rings some fresh insight to Mingus music. I Know What I Know serves as a set of liner notes to his collected recorded output. In doing so, it takes the focus away from colorful Mingus stories, and puts it back where it belongs, on the music. Jazz journalist Jenkins adds his voice to the existing volumes on famously hot-tempered late bassist/composer Charles Mingus in this chronologically arranged musical biography. Jenkins' analysis of Mingus' complete recordings is appropriate for a general audience and is framed by the major events in Mingus' career, including: his childhood fixation with Duke Ellington, early work with the bebop masters, the recording of his influential Ah Um, and the Columbia Records censorship of his lyrics attacking segregationist Arkansas governor Orville Faubus. The book includes a foreword by pianist Sy Johnson and a note from widow Sue Mingus lambasting the sale of pirated Mingus material.