Mingus/Mingus: Two Memoirs / Edition 1

by Janet Coleman

Overview

(Limelight). Charles Mingus was one of the greatest talents in the jazz world, as a bassist, bandleader, and composer. Mingus comes to life again through these two memoirs written by two of his friends. "This book is a breezy but heartfelt tribute to an arascible talent, a collection as passionate and unruly as its subject...funny, respectful and revealing." The New York Times Book Review

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780879101497
Publisher:	Limelight Editions
Publication date:	08/01/2004
Series:	Limelight
Edition description:	1st Limelight ed
Pages:	187
Product dimensions:	5.28(w) x 7.97(h) x 0.43(d)

About the Author

Janet Coleman is a writer, actor, and radio personality. She is also the author of The Compass, a history of improvisational theatre in America. Al Young was a poet, novelist, screenwriter, and educator. A former poet laureate of California, he died in 2021.

Editorial Reviews

Mingus was a genius and eccentric; Janet Coleman has written about both aspects in a portrait as perfect as anything done by a member of my generation “—Edmund White, author of Genet, A Boy’s Own Story, City Boy, and A Married Man

From the Publisher

Freelance writer Coleman and prolific author Young ( Sitting Pretty , etc.), both devotees of Charles Mingus (1922-1979), here present an unconventional, nonchronological, anecdotal, impressionistic account of the personality and contributions of the great jazz bassist and composer. They met him in 1960 when they were students at the University of Michigan, and for the next 20 years, until Mingus died in Mexico, their lives and his were inextricably joined. Captivated by the violent musician--``the Marlon Brando and the Laurence Olivier of Jazz''--whose over-indulgence and self-destruction were balanced by a gentle generosity, Coleman and Young reveal a vibrant, wonderfully complex man who expanded traditional jazz forms, encouraged improvisation, established the first jazz musicians' cooperative and was an impassioned, outspoken foe of racism. Photos not seen by PW. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly