Charles Mingus biography

Profile

American jazz composer Charles Mingus played bass and piano in ways that defied categorization. He forged his own brand of jazz, combining hard bop and black gospel. The Mingus composition most frequently recorded by others is “Goodbye, Porkpie Hat,” a tribute to Lester Young, and his most frequently cited extended work is “Pithecanthropus Erectus,” a musical interpretation of human evolution.