Oh Yeah

Thought I'd do something different and feature a Jazz album on this Sunday afternoon.

After featuring Joni Mitchell last Wednesday, it seemed only fitting to follow up with an album by Charles Mingus since she worked with him before his death.

While Mingus was best known as a bassist, he could also carry a tune and play a decent piano.  In 1961, he went into the studio to record 'Oh Yeah', hiring Doug Watkins to play the bass so he could focus on singing and playing the piano.  Other musicians on the album included Dannie Richmond on drums, Booker Ervin on tenor saxophone and Jimmy Knepper on trombone, but the musician who really makes this album stand out is Rahsaan Roland Kirk, who is credited with playing flute, siren, tenor saxophone and variations on the saxophone called a manzello and a stritch.

Kirk was fond of modifying and creating his own instruments.  He even modified his saxophones so he could play three at once, using his left hand to play the tenor sax and his right hand to play the manzello while using the stritch to produce a drone.

It's too bad that Mingus and Kirk didn't work together more often because their chemistry was out of this world.   Mix Mingus's oddball sense of humor with Kirk's mad genius and you have one helluva a musical trip.