Music is silence, singing.
Music is the architecture of silence.
Music is the cup which holds the wine of silence.
Sound is that cup, but empty.
Noise is that cup, but broken.
(Robert Fripp, source)
Not enough music takes silence seriously. I can't remember how many times I've complained on these pages of pieces that sound too cluttered. Meanwhile the spare/sparse albums really stand out: Mark Hollis, David Sylvian, Christophe Charles, Fripp himself — and, OK, yes, possibly a few more that I've forgotten because they don't all stand out that much.
I think you have anticipated where I'm heading with this: Mingus is another album where each note holds, or is held by, silence. I don't know Weather Report sufficiently to know whether that was part of their house style — several of the performers on this album were in Weather Report at the time — but my ears can't help noticing.
Speaking of the Weather Report musicians, the other day I commented on David Thomas's impressive pulling power with top notch musicians. As well as Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock playing on the record, Joni notes the contributions of Stanley Clarke, John McLaughlin, Tony Williams, Gerry Mulligan and Jan Hammer — bandleaders all — plus others, during "experimental recording dates".
I think I only had an inkling of who those guys were when I bought this album (when? about 1985 or '86?). My memory is of reading some overview of Joni's career up to that point. It was actually a little sniffy about Mingus, but I decided to make up my own mind. I suspect I was (again) seduced by Charlie Mingus's connotations of cool and the lovely cover. These may not be the worst indicators. For one thing, I massively prefer Joni Mitchells' writing when she has a subject — albeit one that she approaches obliquely — other than introspection about creativity and pair-bonded relationships (I find her albums from the other end of the seventies almost unlistenable now). For another it is one of the most beautiful album packages I've ever seen: gatefold plus insert page on thick card, reproducing Joni's attractive paintings. Happily my copy, both cover and record, remains in mint condition (can you explain why some records stay minty and others get little brown moisture marks on the cover, even though they've all been kept under exactly the same conditions?).
For the most part it's true that the songs aren't catchy and they don't grab you like Big Yellow Taxi or even Coyote, but I think that's to do with the space in the performance and recording rather than any weakness in the songs. I don't know; it's just different.
Joni's sleeve notes say, "This was a difficult but challenging project. I was trying to please Charlie [some of the songs are co-written with him, though he died before the album was finished] and still be true to myself." Obviously I cant' say whether Charlie was pleased, but it sounds to me like Joni was true to herself. Less a direct tribute or a portrait of Mingus, Mingus sounds to me like Joni refracting her writing through Charlie's sensibility, and, to my tastes, that was a smart move.
MusicBrainz entry for this album
I read somewhere that the album was unfinished, due to the situation with Mingus dying part way through - that's why it's so beautifully sparse, loads of layers are missing. Was a smart move. Same is true of U2's Unforgettable Fire - no idea how overblown that would've been if they hadn't run out of time and money but the really spacey tracks on there are the unfinished ones, and are some of the best stuff they've ever done...
Weather Report stuff isn't all that reliant on massive of space and silence... The earlier stuff probably is moreso than the later Jaco-era band...
Posted by: Steve Lawson | 04 April 2010 at 01:54 PM