Lead Sheets

The old guy met the two young tyros together for the first time the day before they recorded and told them he didn’t want to play any of his own material.

The next day, 17 September 1962, when they turned up at Sound Makers Studios for their sole recording day they were presented with lead sheets* by the old-timer, each one giving the melody and harmony for seven of his tunes, together with an image described by him; for example:

Crawling around on the streets are serpents who have their heads up; these are agents and people who have exploited artists. Play that along with the music 

Easy. No rehearsals, straight into recording. Sparks flew; creative and otherwise.

Duke Ellington, Charlie Mingus, Max Roach Money Jungle.

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I have a friend who has a music degree in jazz who tells me that Duke Ellington is a religious figure for him, listening to him is as close to approaching the godhead as can be. I defer to him.

Born in Victorian times, 1899 to be precise, Duke Ellington’s commercial star had waned by 1962, he was without a recording contract even, ground-breaking in so many ways he was associated with the old, rather than the new sensibility in jazz; a fallacy, but then that’s narrative for you. He turned up at United Artists wanting to make a piano-based LP, they suggested Charlie Mingus as a bassist who brought Max Roach in as drummer.

Mingus had previously played with Ellington, lasting 4 days in his band before being personally fired by him, a rare occurrence, for fighting, not a rare occurrence for Mr Mingus.

Famously the Money Jungle sessions were almost abandoned halfway through as Mingus stormed out for reasons-varied-in-the-telling. He was persuaded back by the Duke. The trio had a contract for two LPs, nobody was able to get them to record together again.

Still, we got 30:12 out of this trio. That is more than our pathetic species deserves.

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Money Jungle starts with a hard flurry from Mingus before, Roach takes it away and Ellington stamps a chord down, before proving himself easily as tough and wild as the youngsters in his midst. The title track is everything I want in up tempo jazz, a stomping beat, incredible energy and interesting musical shapes. It sounds a lot like electricity should.

A change of pace next in ‘La Fleurette Africaine’, a shimmering moment of poised delicacy and grace. Ellington’s graceful chords staking a claim in the foreground while Roach and Mingus paint a hazy impressionistic background for us. This is beauty and perfection.

‘Very Special’ is actually microscopically less special, but hey. This is a kicking 12-bar blues, a much more conventional form, even in an improvisational manifestation like this. It really swings.

I need Money Jungle‘s next track ‘Warm Valley’ the way I need oxygen. It is an older ballad by Ellington, wonderfully romantic and unashamedly sentimental. A solo piece for 1:30 until Mingus and Roach start to gild its beauty. This is very much how love sounds to me.

We are back on the gas for ‘Wig Wise’, another great burst forwards by the trio, everyone audibly straining at the reins. I marvel at the precision of Roach’s drumming, he plays like a watchmaker at times here.

Enter the ‘Caravan’, composed by Mingus’ one-time opponent in Ellington’s band, trombonist Juan Tizol, first performed and recorded by the Duke in 1936. This version absolutely kicks, again I am left wondering how there can only be three people playing this, it sounds like an orchestra’s worth. It is a pure embodiment of jazz as momentum, as new.

To close Money Jungle we get ‘Solitude’, a gentle touch of a velvet glove on your cheek. As in ‘Warm Valley’ this is an Ellington solo performance for 2 minutes and the remainder is a masterclass in gentility, glide and unguarded feeling. Simply sublime.

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Unlike almost every other LP where they put young and old in the studio together Money Jungle is a perfect fusion of them all. Interestingly Duke Ellington is very much the lead figure here, a unique occurrence in anything I have featuring Mingus. Possibly it is because the trio were playing his compositions, but you can sense his struggle for dominance in the more frenetic moments on the record.

I appreciate that I have barely mentioned Max Roach, a man I hugely esteem for all sorts of reasons, drumming being only one of those. That is partly because in this company he seems to have slipped into the background, despite propelling the more up tempo numbers here remorselessly. Can one play as well as he does in a self-effacing manner?

Money Jungle is a wonderful summit meeting, easily ranking high in any summation of the recorded achievements of any of these three titans. Think about it, that is one hell of an accolade.

1306 Down.

PS: in other news on 17 September 1962 – NASA announce 9 new astronauts including one Neil Armstrong; US Justice Dept file suit against school segregation following James Meredith’s struggles in Mississippi; BBC Wales Today was broadcast for the first time. Epochal.

*not the radiation proof kind, these also known as ‘fake sheets’ sketch out some essentials of a song, enough to allow a talented player to get the gist of what was required in the session.