Pithecanthropus Erectus

Artist: Charles Mingus
Label: Atlantic / Wea
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 075678145629
EAN: 0075678145629
ASIN: B000002I7U

Release Date: 1990-10-25

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Tracks:

Pithecanthropus Erectus
A Foggy Day
Profile of Jackie
Love Chant

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Customer Reviews:

Bring back the original cover art! .......2007-03-13

Seriously - does anybody besides me miss this album's original cover? You know, that abstrafct painting? I do! Anyway, onto the album...

The title track is one of Mingus' best works, a daring sonic exploration of blah, blah, blah... point is, it's a tone poem about the rise and fall of Pithecanthropus Erectus (a species Mingus apparently made up) that's one of his best extended pieces ever. Next up is A Foggy Day (In San Francisco)... man, that is some weird s#!%. It's the audio equivalent of Mingus mooning the jazz purists, with all kinds of real-life sounds (trolleys, sirens, etc.) made by instruments. Free-jazz before it was called free-jazz, or even anti-jazz. Pure insanity. I love it. Meanwhile, Profile of Jackie is Mingus for traditionalists, a lovely little three-minute sax solo.
So far, this seems like Mingus' masterpiece, right? Well, it came remarkably close. Enter Love Chant. I can't really get into that one - it just goes nowhere over its fifteen minutes and really bores me. Normally I wouldn't let one song bring an album down an entire star, but that's one of four. But it's a five-star if you're willing to hit "stop" before Love Chant, for sure!

Awesome title track.......2006-10-08

Charles Mingus's melody for "Pithecanthropus Erectus" is an absolute classic. It's beautiful, and as he shows in the song, it can be played calmly or chaotically. At the time, it was a forward-thinking example of jazz composition and harmony. Today, it still stands up. The CD goes next to "A Foggy Day" where ambient sounds are added to the song. It's not the best song, I don't think the fog horns and so forth add or detract from it, they're not too prominent in the mix. "Profile Of Jackie" features Jackie McLean's sax, not a bad song, I'm not very enthusiastic about it. The CD wraps up in fine form with "Love Chant", a long improvisation. Bookended by strong songs, I highly recommend this CD.

Mingus' first masterpiece........2005-07-22

"Pithecanthropus Erectus" is in the opinion of many (and rightly so), the first Charles Mingus masterpiece. It is on this record I really felt the "Mingus sound" began to coalesce-- that sort of playful jazz filtered through gospel and a big sense of humor sound he had, generously supported by a band that was more than capable of bringing his vision to life (including Jackie McLean blowing alto like he's got something to prove and pianist Mal Waldron).

The album's four tracks (about forty minutes of music) are each classics in their own right-- three Mingus originals and one Gershwin standard ("A Foggy Day"). All four feature fantastic arrangements, in particular the Gershwin piece that finds Mingus at his most inventive-- tenor sax fog horns, alto siren wails, scratching basses, slide whistles and so on. But in between these excursions is a fantastic swing and a monster bass solo. But as good as this is, its probably the title track that's best known-- a difficult, start-stop rhythmic piece with bizarre tempo changes and fierce group improvisation, its justifiably considered one of the greats in Mingus' catalog. The remaining two tracks ("Profile of Jackie" and "Love Chant") are no slouches either-- the former features a brilliant, wailing theme stated on alto, the latter starts as a rolling piano ballad before breaking into a fierce swing for the solo sections.

In all, a great album of Mingus' music. I'd start with "Mingus Ah Um", but this may be where to look next. Essential.

Mingus's Genius Emerges and Messes Up A 6-Year Old for Life!.......2004-09-14

I'll never forget hearing this album at age 6, even for my newly forming mind it was one of the most overwhelming, strange, sometimes scary but ALWAYS interesting and compelling experiences, between the melody lines that stick in your head for days, the wit, the dynamics and everything else.

Years later, it STILL has that same effect on me, only now I can get my brain around it!

The epic length title cut is a 3-part musical depiction of the rise and fall of a fictitious species of human. It's amazing to me how Mingus and his chosen musicians were able to convey so much vivid emotion and narrative with just sounds and no visuals or words.

"A Foggy Day--" lightens the mood a bit with the musicians producing sirens, foghorns, taxi horns, groaning boats and much more, some may find it annoying but this Owl actually finds it oddly charming in this particular instance.

"Portrait of Jackie" is a very brief but very potent vehicle for Jackie McLean to spin forth his unique alto sound and beautiful melody lines.

"Love Chant" can STILL hold me in rapt attention between its insistent low-register piano figure by Mal Waldron and the horns alternating playful and somber lines, with WIllie Jones just playing his butt off

All throughout, Mingus himself asserts his simultaneously gruff and humourous muse through his bass, NOBODY sounded like him before or since.

Want a good place to start with Mingus, I highly recommend this!

Just one complaint, BRING BACK THE ORIGINAL ABSTRACT COVER ART!!

Not as successful as the later "Ah Um" recording..........2003-03-20

I can tell from reading the 10 reviewers who got here ahead of me that this is a controversial and not wholly triumphant effort. I love his "Ah Um" album on Columbia which came three years later than this one, and recommend it strongly instead of "Pithecanthropus." In fact, it is the title suite which does not work for me. I find it too dissonant, and a bit boring at 10 minutes-plus. The second tune is a novelty. Several other critics appear to be annoyed by it, but I found it clever and worth hearing more than once. Charles took the Gershwin song "A Foggy Day (in London Town)" and moved it to San Francisco. He uses the players (himself on bass, two saxophones, piano and drums) to present the original tune beneath a cacophony of urban street and harbor noises, all created with the normal instruments. While the fun of it wears off after three or four hearings, it is artfully accomplished. A brief ballad called "Profile of Jackie" comes next, and at only three minutes, it is the least adventurous and yet most successful piece on the CD. Finally, "Love Chant" takes up nearly 15 minutes, about two-thirds of them great. The person who wants only one or two Mingus samples in his jazz collection should get "Ah Um" first. For diehard fans of Charles, I suppose this is essential. Avant-garde even for today, much less 1956, it is not a record one would put on at a party. Perhaps this CD is best loved by fellow players, not the casual fan.

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