The angry man of jazz, Charles Mingus, tearing it up near the end of his prime, in 1993.
Thanks to my friend Barry Braxton, who posts some rather amazing things on a frequent basis.
Post-Bop
[Video] Aleksandar Subota – Watermelon Man (1970, LP)
Aleksandar ‘Saša’ Subota was a jazz musician from Belgrade, Serbia, who was quite a big player in the ex-Yugoslavian jazz scene in the 1960s and 1970s. Here, he does sterling work in covering Herbie Hancock’s 1962 classic.
[Video] Vagif Mustafa Zadeh – Jazz Compositions
Those who know me well, say, for at least 15 years, know that I have tried throughout my life to be a champion for Soviet Jazz. They had something exquisite that the world didn’t have full access to until the end of Communism. One of these treasures hailed from Azerbaijan.
With the passing of B. B. King a few days ago, I was reminded of a story when the legendary blues guitarist came to the Soviet Union to watch a jazz festival. After seeing Vagif Mustafa Zade play, he named the stunned pianist as the ‘true king of the blues’. Vagif would die at age 35 in 1979, suffering a heart attack while performing onstage at a concert in Uzbekistan.
May his memory be eternal.
Many thanks to Funked Up East for their incredible selection of Soviet music.
[Video] Charles Mingus – Prayer For Passive Resistance
Jazz. Where you can be a revolutionary without uttering a single word (maybe a few moans and shouts here and there, perhaps…).
Happy birthday to you, Charles Mingus. RIP.
Heartfelt thanks to ThE JaZzerZ for posting this originally.
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 