Let My Children Hear Music cover

Let My Children Hear Music

Released

Charles Mingus was one of jazz’s greatest composers and arrangers, constructing pieces that combined the elegance of 1940s swing with raw, howling blues, juxtapositions and flourishes worthy of modern classical, and unfettered improvisation. In 1972, he finally got to work on a grand, Ellingtonian scale with this orchestral album. Pieces with titles like “The Shoes of the Fisherman’s Wife are Some Jiveass Slippers,” “Don’t Be Afraid, the Clown’s Afraid Too,” and “The I of Hurricane Sue,” the latter named for his wife, are sweeping musical landscapes with unexpected elements (the Spanish guitar in “Adagio Ma Non Troppo,” the use of circus sound effects in “Don’t Be Afraid…”) making it a truly epic exhibition of one man’s vast and indomitable vision.

Phil Freeman

Suggestions
3+3 cover

3+3

Tomeka Reid
Diverted Travels cover

Diverted Travels

Jon Balke, Magnetic North Orchestra
Mama Too Tight cover

Mama Too Tight

Archie Shepp
Go In Numbers cover

Go In Numbers

Wadada Leo Smith, New Dalta Ahkri
Morton Feldman: For John Cage cover

Morton Feldman: For John Cage

Darragh Morgan, John Tilbury
Electric Byrd cover

Electric Byrd

Donald Byrd
A World Out of Time cover

A World Out of Time

Various Artists, David Lindley, Henry Kaiser
Painter's Spring cover

Painter's Spring

William Parker
Optometry cover

Optometry

William Parker, DJ Spooky, Joe McPhee, Matthew Shipp