Charles Mingus and the year 1959

After John Coltrane, I spent some time with Miles Davis, and, finding myself unable to get into Porgy and Bess, In a Silent Way, Sketches of Spain, or even Birth of the Cool, I chose not to listen to Bitches Brew or any more Davis for the moment, and decided to focus on Charles Mingus instead.
Charles Mingus was a bassist, composer, and bandleader. He’s one of the greatest figures in jazz, though probably not as well known in popular culture as some other musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, or John Coltrane. I’ve been listening to Mingus Ah Um lately.



What a great album. It doesn’t have a strong sense of unity like the Coltrane albums I’ve been listening to, but it’s diverse—for example, right after “Better Git It in Yo’ Soul”, full of warmth and energy, is the mournful “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”, an elegy for saxophonist Lester Young, who wore a pork pie hat, then it is followed by the fun, swing-style composition “Boogie Stop Shuffle”, and so on. Such a ride.
Mingus Ah Um also contains the instrumental version of “Fables of Faubus”, a protest against, and mockery of, Arkansas governor Orval E. Faubus, who sent out the Arkansas National Guard to prevent 9 black students from entering an all-white high school in 1957.
This is the song with lyrics, re-titled “Original Faubus Fables”, from the album Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus.



Anyway, as I’ve been listening to the album over and over, I’ve just realised that 1959 was such a fantastic year for jazz. That was the year Kind of Blue was released! BBC4 even made a documentary named 1959: The Year that Changed Jazz.
Here are a few articles talking about the year 1959 in jazz:
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/1959-the-most-creative-year-in-jazz-various-artists-by-nathan-holaway.php
https://www.jazziz.com/year-by-year-five-essential-albums-of-1959/
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/genre/35-jazz/1959/

Here are some important albums for anyone interested:
Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue (with John Coltrane):



Dave Brubeck’s Time Out:



The famous “Take Five” is in this album.

Ornette Coleman’s The Shape of Jazz to Come:



Bill Evans’s Portrait in Jazz:


Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers’ Moanin’:



Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book:



Duke Ellington’s soundtrack for Anatomy of a Murder:



Sun Ra & His Arkestra’s Jazz in Silhouette:



Also in 1959, John Coltrane recorded Giant Steps, which was released in 1960.
What a year.