“I was very anxious to read Charles Mingus' autobiography—I'm a huge fan of his. The book, however, was a little disappointing. though I did enjoy reading about many of the "non-musical" aspects of his life, I thought his focus on how he was a pimp and all this crap was a little heavy. I don't disagree with him on including this, I just felt like he talked about it WAY too much.
That aside, his perspectives on race relations in the US was interesting. The portraits he paints of his friends is also very intimate and honest.
I suppose the best part of this book is how we actually get a sense of his personality—both heated and passionate to gentle (and passionate). Mingus was a man passionate about the way he played music, how he wrote music, the women he loved, politics, and many other aspects of his life. There is something to be said of a man like this—an artist first, a musician second. This book takes the reader through what it took to build a man like Mingus.”
BEEMO wrote this review Saturday, November 10, 2007.
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