Charles Mingus: The Art Of Composed Politics
Last September, I happened upon Michal Levy’s brilliant computer animation of the Coltrane classic, Giant Steps. After reading John Amato’s latest musical post on John Coltrane, I figured John and his audience would dig it. Thanks for the h/t, John.
Now, if you’re truly a political head, yet only a casual a fan of jazz, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point you over to the life work of Charles Mingus. The man lived life on the edge, spoke from the heart and translated his political perspective into complex compositions and straightforward lyrics that would make even the most polished, political pundit take notes.
Check out this quote from a review of the Mingus Big Band release of Blues & Politics:
…Mingus’ song titles are also fascinating because they are so suggestive — how does the Haitian revolution or the rise and decline of man (”Pithecanthropus Erectus“) sound? The titles make you think and pay attention to the music as it is played — this is what Mingus desired most as a performer. Throughout his career he sought a conscientious audience working with him to bring meaning to the music. Reprinted within the liner notes of Blues & Politics is Mingus’ untitled prose poem about pledging allegiance to the American flag as well as the lyrics to “Oh Lord, Don’t Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me”, “Don’t Let It Happen Here”, and “Freedom”. These pieces reflect Mingus’ concern with justice for all Americans across racial lines…
Pure genius.
Tags: animation, artsy fartsy, Charles Mingus, Giant Steps, Jazz, John Coltrane, music, politics.
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The Michal Levy animation is really cool.
I really liked it and decided to send him a $.99 donation along with a message indicating that I based my donation on the iTunes pricing model. I received the following response from Michal via email.
“Thanks a lot for your donation!
It would be totally great if each person that watches my film would pay the itunes fee. That way I could afford to make another work like this, long ago…
I am working at the moment on another animation-to-music.
I will let you know when it’s done.
Many thanks again,
Michal.”
that animation blew me away. it’s jazz to the core. i’m really looking forward to his next creation.
as for the donation… imagine if the entire middle-man distribution network disappeared and was replaced by a connected, contextual ecosystem, built to support micropayments for any number of independent artistic ventures.
money flows to the hands of the artists, the business of creativity expands and the one-time future middle men/women are taking more art, music, animation, writing classes as kids so they can land a gig with solid, financial footing.
ah, i can dream, can’t i?
Keep dreamin my man…Keep dreamin. We are better off when people pursue their dreams.
I would love to see a “connected, contextual ecosystem, built to support micropayments for any number of independent artistic ventures.” become a reality. Our society would be better off and more culturally and artistically enriched as a result of such an ecosystem.
I shudder at the thought of how many kids abandon their passion for music and art, because they just don’t see it as a viable career and don’t envision how they can actually make a living from their talents.
I can also only imagine how much more money the Michal Levy’s of the world would have at their disposal with which to create more wonderful pieces of music and art, if everyone donated a few cents as an acknowledgement of their talents.
Heh, I can also dream.
true, true…