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Jazz Portraits: Mingus in Wonderland

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Jazz Portraits: Mingus in Wonderland
Live album by
Charles Mingus
ReleasedSeptember 1959[1][2]
RecordedJanuary 16, 1959
GenreJazz
Length44:11
LabelUnited Artists
ProducerAlan Douglas
Charles Mingus chronology
A Modern Jazz Symposium of Music and Poetry
(1959) 		Jazz Portraits: Mingus in Wonderland
(1959) 		Mingus Ah Um
(1959)
Jazz Portraits Cover
Wonderland Cover

Jazz Portraits: Mingus in Wonderland is a live album by jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus recorded in 1959 and released on the United Artists label in September of that year.[1][2][3] The original release was titled Jazz Portraits and a subsequent edition titled Wonderland.

Composition

Both "Alice's Wonderland" and "Nostalgia in Times Square" were originally written for the 1959 John Cassavetes film Shadows as part of a full soundtrack, but Mingus’ music was almost entirely replaced for the final version of the film. A partial reconstruction of the soundtrack was released in 2015 as the compilation album Shadows.[4]

A reworked version of "Nostalgia in Times Square," with vocals by Honi Gordon, was recorded during Mingus' 1959 Mingus Dynasty sessions and included on reissues of that album as a bonus track titled "Strollin'".[5]

Though never a major part of Mingus’ repertoire, "Nostalgia in Times Square" has since become a jazz standard, widely performed and recorded by other musicians.[6] Notably, jazz fusion trio Medeski Martin & Wood have long performed the song, usually as part of a medley with Sun Ra’s “Angel Race.”[7]

Reception

The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4 stars, calling the music "advanced bop that looks toward the upcoming innovations of the avant-garde and is frequently quite exciting".[8]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[8]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[9]

Track listing

All compositions by Charles Mingus except as indicated
  1. "Nostalgia in Times Square" – 12:18
  2. "I Can't Get Started" (Vernon Duke, Ira Gershwin) – 10:08
  3. "No Private Income Blues" – 12:51
  4. "Alice's Wonderland" – 8:54
  • Recorded at the Nonagon Art Gallery in New York City on January 16, 1959

Personnel

References

  1. ^ a b "September Album Releases" (PDF). The Cash Box. The Cash Box Publishing Co. Inc., NY. 19 September 1959. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Jazz Portraits". The Billboard. The Billboard Publishing Co. 7 September 1959. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  3. ^ Charles Mingus discography accessed June 8, 2011
  4. ^ "Charles Mingus – Shadows". discogs.com. Retrieved on December 27, 2020.
  5. ^ "Charles Mingus – Mingus Dynasty". discogs.com. Retrieved on December 27, 2020.
  6. ^ "Nostalgia in Times Square by Charles Mingus". SecondHandSongs. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  7. ^ Corroto, Mark. "Medeski, Martin & Wood: Free Magic: Live (Review)". All About Jazz. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  8. ^ a b Yanow, S. Allmusic Review accessed June 8, 2011
  9. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 140. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
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