Mingus on Mingus (on Mingus)
We’ve been asked to help call attention to a proposed documentary on Charles Mingus and so we will. The filmmaker is Kevin Ellington Mingus and the documentary is called “Mingus on Mingus”. Kevin is Mingus’ grandson and the film will be about his journey to discover “the truth” about his famous grandfather. There’s a video explaining the project at the Website, Charles Mingus Documentary: Mingus on Mingus. I tried to embed it here at Jazz Collector, but my technical prowess was not up to it, so I recommend you go to the site and check it out. They are trying to raise money to fund the film, so if you are a Mingus fan and wish to see another documentary, please feel free. I have my own couple of Mingus stories to contribute. When I was a young journalist starting out I was assigned to interview Mingus, only he didn’t really want to be interviewed. I wrote the article and subsequently posted it at Jazz Collector. In case you missed it the first time, you can find it here, Memories of Mingus. Another story: I was talking to my cousin yesterday and he heard of the time Mingus was playing somewhere in LA and a woman was talking, and talking, and talking, and talking, and he kept looking at her but she kept talking, and talking, and talking, and talking. Finally, Mingus put down his bass, opened his case and pulled out a gun. The woman ran out of the club screaming with Mingus chasing her down the street, firing shots in the air. The great thing about the story, as surreal as it seems, is that there’s no one who knows anything about Mingus who would doubt that it happened, right?