TRACK: “Nostalgia in Times Square”
ALBUM TITLE: Charles Mingus: Jazz Portraits/Mingus in Wonderland
LABEL: Blue Note
PERSONNEL: Booker Ervin, tenor sax; John Handy, alto sax; Richard Wyands, piano; Charles Mingus, bass; Dannie Richmond, drums
RECORDED: January 1959
REVIEW FROM: Jazz Bass Artists of the 1950s by Dave Hunt
A vital aspect of this session is that Mingus chose one of his most famous, most memorable compositions as a solo vehicle through which to display his enormous creative talent and technical facility. The bonus on this track is the numerous exchanges with drummer Dannie Richmond, ranging from Americana humor to avant garde.
This 12-bar blues is stated twice with a 12-bar stop-time section launching the soloists. Alto saxist John Handy is first up and alternately preaches and explores “outside” approaches while utilizing a double-time section as an improvisational contrast. Pianist Richard Wyands’ bluesy chordal focus brings the tune back to earth before shifting into a contrastingly appealing single-line passage. Ultimately, he became a musician’s musician for his exceptional creativity despite remaining relatively unknown by the larger jazz community. Tenor saxist Booker Ervin reaches his usual space orbit; like Handy before him, he takes advantage of the contrasting double-time section, but he is the first soloist to use the tune’s stop-time section in his improvisational format.
Mingus begins a typically strong creative performance with spectacular phrasing. These phrases characteristically have a quite original sound and are almost non-swinging in their rhythmic makeup and feel. They certainly portend a surprisingly unusual solo construction. His second chorus is much more conventionally melodic, but uniquely so, with classically influenced motifs interspersed. Conversational 4-bar phrases are soon traded extensively with Richmond and run the gamut of musical styles—jazz, blues, classical, folk, and even nursery rhymes. If what Mingus plays on this track is unexpectedly satisfying, listeners could be pleasurably surprised by much of his other accompaniment and solo work as well.