Word: bassists
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...part of the heyday of the big bands of Herb Pomeroy and Maynard Ferguson (this was Maynard's hot '50s group, not the bubblegum combo he leads today.) Byard left the Ferguson band to spend five years working in an entirely different context--the celebrated Jazz Workshop led by bassist Charles Mingus. After leaving Mingus. Byard spent several years working as a solo pianist and, significantly, filling in on piano for the Ellington band when the Duke's failing health occasionally kept him from performing...
...case study in the plight of the black American artist, it's not hard to see why the musical importance of Charles Mingus has so often been eclipsed by the drama of his troubled life. Even as he first established his unique and revolutionary talent as a bassist, Mingus seemed bent upon becoming one of the great and tragic characters of jazz...
Public Image Ltd. is also the name of Lydon's new band, composed of ex-Clash guitarist Keith Levine, bassist Jah Wobble, and drummer Jim Donut. Wobble only learned the bass last year; Donut is as leadfooted as most rock drummers. But Levine really understands his topped-up guitar--his ingenious and adventurous departures from twelve-bar rock and roll demonstrate that here--and his partnership with Lydon promised much more than what...
DIED. Charles Mingus, 56, virtuoso bassist and composer whose emotional, free-floating music helped shape modern jazz; of a heart attack after suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease); in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Raised in the Watts district of Los Angeles, Mingus began studying bass in high school, later played with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker before forming his own combo in New York in the mid-'50s. Influenced strongly by blues and gospel, he began writing music that highlighted the bass as a solo instrument and featured contorted harmonies and quick-changing rhythms with...
Costello's recording history is one of those success stories that's satisfying because the artist deserves every bit of acclaim he's received. His first album, recorded with only a bassist and drummer backing him, shocked people in 1977--forces that small hadn't produced such energetic and memorable music in ages. The follow-up only a few months later, This Year's Model, landed on the public almost too soon--it was hard to believe one man could write that many great songs so fast, and record them so well. This Year's Model added an organ...