Rating: 
Summary: A new way of approaching the autobiography
Review:
Mingus was, and always will be, in a world of his own. Be it with his bass playing, compositions, social life, or just his unique and obscure way interpreting life.
This book has touched on many subjects , not just jazz, but with many other topics. The stories are often blown out of all proportion, the mark of a great storyteller? Mingus the ego is evident. If people don't dig that, then they shouldn't listen to him, or any other artist in their particular idiom, as ego is like tension, and creativity, and love and hate, and all the things you just can't contain within the skin and the 2D world.
The first few chapters are deceiving, as it comes over like Ming's Father is writing the book. The conversation with Bird and Diz and Lucky Thompson on stage. Chatting with 'Fat Girl,' and the discovery of the origin of 'Donna Lee,' all worth the price if you love these players.
There was a story once that went something along the lines of a critic chastizing Ming for his singing on the 'Blues and Root's' lp. Ming responded aptly with: 'If I sing, then it is myself whom I sing for, not you, or anyone else. I can only sing for myself. It's like, if I punch you in the mouth, I can't bleed for you, that's your job, right?'
I reckon that goes some way to describing the man and his fury.
Rating: 
Summary: Mingus is the man but this book is depressing
Review: Get the Miles Davis autobiography instead,,,,
this one is a downer
Rating:
Summary: A bit unclear sometimes, yet a great book
Review: I didn't really know what to expect when I opened this book. It was the first time that I've opened a musician's autobiography, and I thought it might have an examination of how he developed his style, how did he decide to play the instrument, etc. This book was a good surprise. Mingus is hardly focusing the music, though it is always there, and choosing to tell us about everything that's around it. It seems as if he knows that the reader is probably familiar with his music, and is trying to make us understand WHY his music is as it is, and it's a smart move. The autobiography sort of completes the music, adding a missing half to it, making me understand Mingus the man, and through it understand better Mingus the artist.The book is written wonderfully, Mingus' writing is brilliant, and the story sweeps you with him and you thank God for it being such a small book or you might've missing a month from reading it rather than a day. Some things are not totally clear, and some things are not explained, but yet, it is a great book, deals with love, crime, blacks and whites, jazz, madness, and the conclusion, which is expressed in the title, that love, for friends, women or for music is the only thing that's really important, and if you dig it, you could find happiness.
Rating: 
Summary: "Print the legend, not the fact." John Ford
Review: In the uncompromisingly self-mythologizing "Beneath the Underdog", Charles Mingus reveals himself to be a slave to his passions, namely music and sex, with the emphasis on the former. Mingus extrudes a complicated portrait of himself as a virtuoso musician, pimp, orgiast, philosopher - and all these facets might come out in the same paragraph. His no-holds-barred, occasionally chaotic style reflects his music nearly perfectly, which makes this an essential read for even a casual fan of his music. Anyone looking for a conventional, "and then I wrote" sort of autobiography should look elsewhere, but those looking for the development of the personality that informed one of the singular careers in the history of any sort of art will find a lot to enjoy here.
Rating:
Summary: Impressionistic self-portrait of a powerful artist
Review: Listen to his music while you are reading this book. It will help you understand what is going on. Mingus paints a self-portrait which impresses the reader with it's brilliant colors, distorted proportions and powerful images. Mingus shares with us the events, people and impressions in his life which matterd to him. This book is compelling, humorous, disturbing and at times disonant. Just like his greatest music. Unlike his music, however, this is not a great literary work. The value of this book is not in the literature, but the stature of the author. "Beneath the Underdog..." is a view into the soul of the artist rather than a narrative of the life of the man. Highly recommended for those who are prepared to accept Mingus on his own terms
Charles Saxe, Chicago, Illinois
Rating: 
Summary: Genius bassographer/composer's autobio on his sex life.
Review: Mingus discusses, in gorgeous Watts be-bop prose, the turns of sexual passion which come to symbolize his outlook. The book is about sex and sensual satiation, not music, but in the hide there is substantive reveal. Particular attention due to the night in Baja when Mingus makes love to thirty Mexican prostitutes. Hindsight eyeballing of Mingus' spectacularly hollow rationalizations for his abberant, abusive, behavior makes apparent that we will no know more about Mingus after the read than we did before, except that he swung it hard
Rating:
Summary: A review from a fellow musician.
Review: My mother just bought me this book and it kept me reading way into the night. 4 am sounds right. But I have to concure with the monroe, MI reader about this book. it is obvious that the great charles mingus had problem. But this book fails to get into more of the music! With out the music the mingus played mingus wouldnt be famous or have this book out.
Rating:
Summary: Just like reading jazz..
Review: Reading this book is as exciting as listening to a great Mingus album - it careens all over the place , taking unexpected turns and strange detours. Tom Waits once said about some autobiographical stories: "All of these stories are true. They either happened to me, to someone I know, or I think I heard them somewhere". That is exactly this book. It is not an historically accurrate reference book on Mingus' career (read Brian Priesley's excellent book for that), and it isn't intent on giving you the facts. It is crazy, rambling prose; bristling with imagination. Like much of his Plays Piano album - these are spontaneous compositions. Just like reading jazz.
Rating:
Summary: Mingus the man
Review: this guy was amazing. His observations and they way he expresses himself are amazing both via his music and his writing. This book IS very feeling-oriented , I agree with the other reviewers, but that's how an autobio should be. It's an AUTObio, so that person will want to recount their life and any story is subjective. if you're looking to get a dry chronicle of Mingus' life, then don't get this book. But if you want to read an amazing mind put in words, go for it. I think it's brilliant.
Rating:
Summary: A review from a fellow musician.
Review: This is definately a difficult book to examine. It is mainly Mingus' stories about his life, which are often incoherent ramblings and super-exaggerated tales of his sexual prowess. It bothered me, to a certain extent. I always felt like Mingus was trying to work his readers, really get one over on them. But by the time I finished the book, I appreciated it a lot more. In his final chapters, written from the "insane asylum", Mingus seems a lot more introspective, realistic, and less burdened by an overinflated sense of machismo. If you can step back and examine it for what it is, a bizarre and disturbing look at a man's life, it is a very interesting read. Mingus himself probably didn't realize how much about himself he really told us, without even intending.
|
