Charles Mingus -

Date: July 13, 1960
Release: CD Atlantic #90532-2
Cover Art: view / download
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I took a very long detour one summer to visit Antibes in the south of France. Like a pilgrim, I was drawn to a place where a musical prophet had once shined a light. As I reclined on the white sand beaches of Antibes looking out across the warm Mediterranean, I understood how Charles Mingus and his band were able to flower so spectacularly in these fertile surroundings. It was in Antibes that Mingus and his disciples gathered one fabled summer night in 1960 to lay down a set of the most religiously joyous jazz-spirituals ever recorded. Mingus at Antibes is one of the few albums that reveals the healing potential of music, particularly Mingus’ music.

Intensely foward thinking yet often earthy and traditional in his expression, Mingus absorbed deeply everything he experienced, particularly the gospel music of the black church. Growing up in segregated South-Central Los Angeles, Mingus learned to value the raw religious ecstasy of gospel music more highly than the high-brow aesthetic of polished phrasing or perfect pitch. Like the great gospel preachers of his youth, Mingus knew how to stir his fellow musicians (and audiences) to erupt with the collective energy of pure connection–with themselves, each other, and the soul-deep presence of the Divine Spirit.

Taking to the stage at Antibes with his most magnificant band, Mingus opens “Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting” alone on bass, and soon a powerful rhythm takes shape. The mighty frontline horns of Eric Dolphy, Booker Ervin, and Ted Curson join together passionately in the opening chorus, before each man steps up to the microphone to solo and preach. Mingus is heard urging Dolphy through his remarkably vocal alto solo to “talk about it, Eric.”

Here, as elsewhere on the album, inspired solos give way to heated call and response breaks between Mingus and the band, fueled by rhythmic hand claps and Mingus’ shouts of encouragment. The story that is told through “Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting” (and the rest of the songs performed that afternoon at Antibes) is about how individual voices find their truest tones when they commune with others. None of these musicians ever sounded more compelling outside the community of this band. Mingus at Antibes sustains a miraculous and exhilirating momentem. Throughout the album, all hearts and ears are in tune, with Mingus’ guiding fingers remaining firmly on the pulse (and on the strings), hitting us again and again with the staggeringly expressive power of jazz.

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