Charles Mingus - Pithecanthropus erectus

WEEK OF THE UPRIGHT PITHECANTHROPOS

His father was an American soldier, the son of a Black man and a Swedish woman; his mother was English with a Chinese mother… during his youth, he was marginalized by both Blacks and Whites, more mixed-race than the mixed-race. Musically raised on gospel and classical music, he studies but cannot graduate in cello because he is Black. Meanwhile, he is drawn to Ellington and jazz, but the cello has no chances in that music… He dedicates himself to the double bass and, by studying hard, he becomes an innovator; in jazz, no one draws as much from it as he does. Then he is egocentric and learns to mix jazz and politics, which will also make him a pioneer in this field.
Take off your hats, ladies and gentlemen. Charles Mingus is passing by…