Charlie Mingus Blues and Roots USA Atlantic Bullseye original Jackie McLean

	A$		90
	$		60

Another out of my personal collection, for sale due to changing tastes and children!

1959 was a landmark year for jazz, this is part of that storied era, terrific online review does it justice:

“Charles Mingus is remembered as a bass player, pianist and composer. Heavy-set and irascible, he was known for self-important tantrums and a bullying approach. In a musical argument, Mingus once punched his trombonist Jimmy Knepper in the lip, cracking a tooth and knocking a crown straight out the player’s mouth. According to Knepper, his upper octaves never sounded the same again. Although he avoided the hard drugs he saw tearing apart his contemporaries Miles Davis and Charlie “Bird” Parker, Mingus developed an on-again-off-again reliance on diet pills that he failed to see as an addiction. Jim Paul Eilers, who ran Showplace in Greenwich Village, remembers Mingus literally pulling the strings out of piano when he was told the club would be phasing in new replacement acts after a solid year of Mingus concerts.“One night he just got so upset, he started pulling out the piano’s strings. That takes an incredible amount of strength,” Eilers remembers in Gene Santoro’s biography of Mingus, Myself When I Am Real. “He didn’t bleed at all; too many calluses on his hands, probably. But he just didn’t want to leave. It was such a beautiful piano… but I didn’t hold it against him.” He had unusual habits. There were times he ate dinner on stage. He could be seen in the clubs eating brandy snifters full of ice cream, and chasing them down with a pickle, theorizing it would “break up the fat” and keep him from gaining weight.Mingus reportedly hated to hear people talking during his sets. He’d heckle his audience, sometimes it would be serious, sometimes it was part of the show. Often it was hard to tell the difference, perhaps even for Mingus himself. At one point he even threw his instrument at the crowd, sending his $20,000 bass crashing at the feet of an especially chatty table New York’s Five Spot.These sensational stories are real and often-told, but to make a one-dimensional characterture of Mingus would be a mistake. He was insecure and narcissistic perhaps, prone to dominant posturing and great mistakes of temper – but he could also be profusely apologetic, suave, or charming. Despite a handful of violent altercations, Mingus’ aggression was more often pomp and showmanship. More often than not he’d stand down from real confrontation, especially if when he was outmatched. Mingus had a sense to humor to match his size and was also a voracious reader, even if his attention often strayed from book to book. He wrote a long, sprawling, and half-invented autobiography throughout his life titled Beneath The Underdog. There were moments where Mingus the man could be a tempestuous clown. For certain, his moods swung as hard as his best tunes. In ways it would hold him back artistically, professionally, economically, and personally. But there were also moments when Mingus was a king. Blues & Roots is one of them.

On Blues and Roots, and several other Atlantic sides, Mingus was out to marry the dapper sophistication of Duke Ellington with the jerky stream-of-consciousness of Thelonious Monk; the studied angularity of Igor Stravinsky with the throbbing swing of Baptist gospel. He succeeded, and it sounds really motherf*ing good. But in back in February 1959, before he recorded either of those albums, Mingus went into the studio at the request of music-critic-turned-Atlantic Atlantic Records-exec Nesuhi Ertegun, who asked him to try something different.  Something that came from the most unconscious part of his brass ensemble. The result is Blues & Roots, a record that features moments with more balls, swagger, and visceral force than almost anything else before or since. All the classic instrumental jazz albums made in 1959 can be seen as an extension of, or a reaction to Bebop. In ways, Blues & Roots might be both. Where Miles Davis veered away from Bebop by on Kind Of Blue and the equally listenable Sketches of Spain by steering toward minimalism and modality, Mingus reacted to the form by bringing swing, structure and concise emotional expression back to improvisation. If Kind of Blue is the pinnacle of cool jazz, then Blues & Roots is steaming hot lava of molten emotion, contained by rootsy structures, and driven by a near-tyranical bandleader who never let self-expression cross the line into self-indulgence. To Mingus, any solo that lasted more than two choruses was likely to drift into cliché, boredom, mannerism, or all of the above. On Mingus records, soloists sounded more awake, alive, and more like themselves than they did on other dates. He expected a lot of them, and they gave a lot of themselves. There’s no better place to hear this effect than on Blues & Roots, backed by Jackie McLean, Pepper Adams, Booker Ervin, Horace Parlan, Mal Waldren…!

This is the original USA Atlantic ‘bullseye’ deep-groove original mono pressing.

Cover in NM shape, incredible heavy laminated USA original. Vinyl is VG+ - still retains a lovely gloss and shine, but it has been played, however well cared for. Under strong light it shows hairlines, and handling marks, as well as some storage sweeps, it has several longer hairline scratches, likely needle marks – all are entirely superficial and don’t sound at all, playback is rich and deep, NM sound, you wont be unhappy with this copy, the dollar is down, grab this must have jazz artifact locally.  

Hassle free returns and money back, if you are unhappy in any way please email me, I try my best to list accurately, play graded and under strong light, cheers! 

MINT: The record itself is in brand new condition with no surface marks or deterioration in sound quality. The cover and any extra items such as the lyric sheet, booklet or poster are in perfect condition. Records advertised as Sealed or Unplayed should be Mint.

NM: Played a handful of times, several of the faintest hairlines only, perfect sound, full gloss and sheen, cover near new in every way.

EXCELLENT: The record shows some signs of having been played, tiniest dusting of superficial hairlines only, playback excellent. The cover and packaging might have very slight wear/most minor cosmetic wear only. 

VERY GOOD+: Perfectly acceptable, plays with no skips or jumps, no feelable marks, hairlines, and other superficial scratches may be evident on the vinyl but sound quality and fidelity still excellent, may have the odd pop and crackle only. Cover will have normal wear, seams and corners in tact, some age deterioration.

VERY GOOD:The record has obviously been played many times, but displays no major deterioration in sound quality, despite noticeable surface marks and the occasional light scratch, some may be feelable but will not sound in repeat-tic manner. Normal wear and tear on the cover or extra items, without any major defects, is acceptable, may have minor seam or other tears but still acceptable integrity.

GOOD:The record has been played so much that the sound quality has noticeably deteriorated, perhaps with some distortion and feelable scratches that may tic or jump. The cover and contents suffer from folding, scuffing of edges, spine splits, discolouration, etc.

FAIR:The record is still just playable but has not been cared for properly and displays considerable surface noise, jump etc. The cover and contents will be torn, stained and / or defaced. Collector piece only.  

Postage: 1 LP within Australia $8.00

Combined Postage for Australian Buyers :

All packages within Australia are now sent with tracking.

Metro areas quoted - country can cost more please ask.

2-3 LP's

4-6 LP's

7-10 LP's

Melbourne

10.50

10.50

10.50

Sydney

14.50

15.50

16.50

Adelaide

14.50

15.50

16.50

Brisbane

14.50

16.00

17.50

Hobart

15.00

16.50

17.50

Perth

16.50

17.50

18.00

Shipping Rates for International Buyers :

Sea Mail is offered and takes up to 3 MONTHS for delivery - AU$10.80 worldwide.

Air Mail takes up to 2 WEEKS for delivery.

1 LP

2 LP's

3 LP's

4-6 LP's

AU$

AU$

AU$

AU$

New Zealand

12.00

22.00

23.00

32.00

Asia & Pacific

14.00

27.00

28.00

39.00

USA & Canada

15.00

30.00

32.00

44.00

Europe

19.00

38.00

40.00

58.00

Rest Of World

21.00

41.00

44.00

64.00

Happy bidding