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Beneath The Underdog

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A fascinating insight into Mingus' mind - unforgettable – The Times

A pure genius – Miles Davis

The purest of dynamite – Rolling Stone

Bass player extraordinaire Charles Mingus, who died in 1979, is one of the essential composers in the history of jazz, and Beneath the Underdog, his celebrated, wild, funny, demonic, anguished, shocking and profoundly moving memoir, is the greatest autobiography ever written by a jazz musician.

It tells of his God-haunted childhood in Watts during the 1920s and 1930s; his outcast adolescent years; his apprenticeship, not only with jazzmen but also with pimps, hookers, junkies, and hoodlums; and his golden years in New York City with such legendary figures as Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie. Here is Mingus in his own words, from shabby roadhouses to fabulous estates, from the psychiatric wards of Bellevue to worlds of mysticism and solitude, but for all his travels never straying too far, always returning to music.
©1998 Charles Mingus (P)2019 Canongate Books Ltd Entertainment & Celebrities Celebrity
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This is an important piece of work by Mingus himself, despite something like 2/3rds of it bordering on pulpy erotic fantasy and misogynistic tales of love and pimping(?!) Nevertheless, it’s quite poetic, touching, and truly creative in style, and definitely an interesting read. And it does provide a window into the mind of the struggling genius, however distorted: there are enough sprinklings of stories of his work as a composer, bassist, and working jazz musician in the golden era, to appeal to ardent fans. I had avoided it for a long time, given other critiques I had read, but having completed i ardently recommend it.

Important context for Mingus fans, though difficult and of another age

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