Goodbye Pork Pie Hat by Charles Mingus
This jam was posted by 48 people
but neven was first
I've been listening to jazz all morning, preparing to make this drive back to Austin.
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Suitably elegaic. Mingus's farewell to Lester Young.
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This was difficult to jam due to restrictions. Nobody cares that it was renamed "Theme for Lester Young" so it's still usually called "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat". It is a classic, a standard, covered by all the great and the good. The first time I heard it was on "Wired" by Jeff Beck. I thought it was one of Jeff's, until I realised via Joni Mitchell, that it was a Charlie Mingus number. I remember wondering if Mingus was originally spelled the normal Scottish way (Menzies) until I spotted his race roots. Duh. Unusually for me, the original surpassed the one I happened to hear first. I let Beck go, & have grown to appreciate the myriad colourings of the chord progressions, the steadfast bass pacing, the breath-long phrasing, the way it relaxes me, like a jazz infusion. I became Pavlovianly relective, instantly chilled man. I used to unhunch, sip a freshly brewed strong coffee, &inhale a cigarette, & reset or reboot myself to this. Today, it is the same, but sadly without the cigarette.
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