Mingus Dynasty

For the Charles Mingus tribute band, see Mingus Dynasty (band).

Not to be confused with Ming dynasty.

Mingus Dynasty is a jazz album by Charles Mingus, recorded in 1959 and released on Columbia Records in May 1960.^[1][2][3] It is a companion album to his 1959 record Mingus Ah Um, and was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. The title alludes to Mingus's ancestry, which was partially Chinese.^[7]

Mingus Dynasty
Studio album by Charles Mingus
Released	May 1960[1][2][3]
Recorded	November 1 and 13, 1959
Studio	CBS 30th Street Studio, New York City
Genre	Jazz
Length	59:34
Label	Columbia
Producer	Teo Macero
Charles Mingus chronology
Blues & Roots (1960) Mingus Dynasty (1960) Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus (1960)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Down Beat (Original LP release)	[5]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	[6]

Tracks one, three, four, and five were released in their unedited form in 1979 on vinyl and in 1999 on CD. The cuts amount to about eight minutes.^[8]

Track listing

All compositions by Charles Mingus except where noted.

1. "Slop" – 6:16
2. "Diane" – 7:32
3. "Song With Orange" – 6:50
4. "Gunslinging Bird" (Originally titled "If Charlie Parker Were a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats") – 5:14
5. "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" (Mercer Ellington) – 7:36
6. "Far Wells, Mill Valley" – 6:14
7. "New Now Know How" – 4:13
8. "Mood Indigo" (Barney Bigard, Duke Ellington) – 8:13
9. "Put Me in That Dungeon" – 2:53
10. "Strollin'" (Originally titled "Nostalgia in Times Square") (Mingus, George Gordon) – 4:33 [Bonus track on CD]

Personnel

• Charles Mingus – bass
• John Handy – alto sax
• Booker Ervin – tenor sax
• Benny Golson – tenor sax (2, 3, 4, 6, 10)
• Jerome Richardson – baritone sax (2, 3, 4, 6, 10), flute (2)
• Richard Williams – trumpet (2, 3, 4, 6, 10)
• Don Ellis – trumpet (1, 5, 8, 9)
• Jimmy Knepper – trombone
• Roland Hanna – piano (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9)
• Nico Bunink – piano (7, 10)
• Dannie Richmond – drums
• Teddy Charles – vibes (2, 3, 4, 6)
• Maurice Brown – cello (2, 9)
• Seymour Barab – cello (2, 9)
• Honi Gordon – vocals (10)^[9]

50th Anniversary Legacy Edition

In 2009 Sony's Legacy Recordings released a special, two-disc 50th anniversary edition of Mingus's seminal 1959 album Mingus Ah Um that also includes Mingus Dynasty in its entirety on the second disc.^[10]

References

1. "19 Columbia Albums For May Release" (PDF). The Cash Box. The Cash Box Publishing Co. Inc., NY. 7 May 1960. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
2. "New and Outstanding LPs". The Billboard. The Billboard Publishing Co. 30 May 1960. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
3. "Mingus Dynasty" (PDF). The Cash Box. The Cash Box Publishing Co. Inc., NY. 14 May 1960. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
4. Allmusic review
5. Down Beat: September 15, 1960 Vol. 27, No. 19
6. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1002. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
7. Mingus, Charles. Beneath the Underdog; His World as Composed by Mingus. New York: Knopf, 1971.
8. 2009 remastered CD liner notes
9. "Charles Mingus – Mingus Dynasty". jazzloft.com. Archived from the original on 2013-06-24. Retrieved 2012-02-14.. Accessed February 14, 2012
10. Album Review – Mingus Ah Um: Legacy Edition. Pitchfork.com. Accessed: January 11, 2009