Mingus Plays Piano cover

Mingus Plays Piano

Released

The bassist sits down and improvises on known songs and unknown ideas for an hour, making it sound very much like he plays the piano as much as he plays any other instrument. (He generally did not.) What comes through is that non-stop melodic imagination, the same one you hear in “Better Git Hit In Your Soul” or “Fables of Faubus”—long, long phrases that feel a little bit like a late-night conversation rising and dimming with the moods of the talkers. A quiet monsterpiece.

Sasha Frere-Jones

Recommended by

Suggestions
Works cover

Works

Abul Mogard
Wrong Way Up cover

Wrong Way Up

John Cale, Brian Eno
Face Time cover

Face Time

James Rushford, Oren Ambarchi, Kassel Jaeger
Phallus Dei cover

Phallus Dei

Amon Düül II
Palm cover

Palm

Kukangendai
Blues & Roots cover

Blues & Roots

Charles Mingus
I'll Try Living Like This cover

I'll Try Living Like This

death's dynamic shroud
La Düsseldorf cover

La Düsseldorf

La Düsseldorf