Mingus Big Band Releases “The Charles Mingus Centennial Sessions”
The legacy of Charles Mingus is continuing to be celebrated this year by his legacy bands. Now the Mingus Big Band has released The Charles Mingus Centennial Sessions, which marks the 100th anniversary of the bassist and composer’s birth with 22 of his compositions.
The work includes new arrangements of his timeless songs with narrations by Charles’s son Eric Mingus. The Charles Mingus Centennial Sessions was recorded with over 30 of the world’s leading musicians, rotating in the Mingus Big Band tradition, they say.
Bass on the album is handled by three men: Boris Kozlov, Andrew McKee, and Mike Richmond. Each has played an important role in the group. Kozlov has been in the band for over two decades and is the current co-leader of the group. McKee spent a decade in the ’90s and is featured on many recordings. When Mingus died in 1979, his widow Sue Mingus (who passed away in September 2022) launched the Legacy band with Mike Richmond in the bass seat.
Kozlov arranged several of the works, including “Meditations for Moses,” on which he takes a beautiful bowed solo:
The Charles Mingus Centennial Sessions is available digitally through iTunes and Amazon MP3. For more on Mingus’s legacy, check out our Mingus at 100 interview with Kozlov, Richmond, John Benitez, and Zach Kirsimae.
The Charles Mingus Centennial Sessions Track List:
- Work Song (Break The Chains) featuring Eric Mingus
- The I of Hurricane Sue
- Intro to Nobody Knows the Bradley I Know
- Nobody Knows the Bradley I Know
- Meditations for Moses
- All The Things You Could Be By Now If Sigmund Freud’s Wife Was Your Mother
- Don’t Let It Happen Here
- Profile of Jackie
- Hobo Ho
- Intro to Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting
- Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting
