Charles Mingus

Virtuoso bass player, accomplished pianist, bandleader and composer regarded as one of the most important figures in twentieth century American music * Considered the heir apparent to Duke Ellington * Studied double bass with H. Rheinshagen, former principal bassist of the New York Philharmonic, and compositional techniques with the legendary Lloyd Reese * Performed with Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington and many other fellow jazz giants * Recorded over a hundred albums and wrote over three hundred scores * Composed his first concert piece, "Half-Mast Inhibition," when he was seventeen years old but it was not recorded until twenty years later by a 22-piece orchestra with Gunther Schuller conducting * Alvin Ailey choreographed an hour program called "The Mingus Dances" during a collaboration with the Robert Joffrey Ballet Company * Repertory bands Mingus Dynasty, Mingus Orchestra and the Mingus Big Band continue to perform his music * The Library of Congress acquired the entire Charles Mingus Collection of original manuscripts, scores, recordings, photographs, correspondence and memorabilia * The United States Postal Service created a commemorative stamp to honor Mingus’s contributions to American culture and history

Works by Charles Mingus include:
Haitian Fight Song
Self-Portrait in Three Colors
Fables of Faubus
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
Boogie Stop Shuffle
Ysabel’s Dance Song