Charles Mingus At The Joyous Lake in Woodstock 1976

In the story of 20th century American jazz . even Ken Burns would agree that  Mingus’ name stands just below Miles, Trane, Duke, and Satchmo. I had the pleasure of seeing him perform at Carnegie Hall and he was incredible. I had the even greater pleasure of having dinner with him and interviewing him on the radio..

      Mingus was a brilliant bassist, composer and arranger. He could make a quintet sound like an orchestra. His charts were demanding .His windows for solos always challenged his players to direct the journey.

    I met Mingus through Ron Merians. Ron was the owner of The Joyous Lake in Woodstock during the 70’s . The Lake was ( like the Chance) a room that featured a combination of world famous.. and soon to be world famous.. as well as locals posing as world famous..or maybe it was world famous posing as locals..so many folks were living in Woodstock and would just drop by and sit in....The Band , Paul Butterfield, Taj Mahal, Stuff ( Paul Simon’s Band), Carly Simon, Orleans, Talking Heads, Richie Havens, John Sebastian, NRBQ, Eric Andersen, Happy and Artie Traum The Fabulous Rhinestones and countless others all graced the stage of this tiny club…and yes the Rolling Stones held a birthday party for Charlie  and Woody there when they were mixing Some Girls in Woodstock..and I was in attendance..but that’s another story..

    In 1976 Mingus was in the early stages of Lou Gehrig’s disease. This physical giant of a bass player ,..with massive hands…had to play the upright bass while sitting on a stool.. His presence was still imposing.  I did a 3 hour radio interview with Mingus … I asked him about the electric bass ..He said that the Fender company had sent him a few in the early 50’s ..but that he would rip the strings off of them. I would have thought this hyperbole..but I had already shaken the hands  of this ailing giant.

      I asked what he thought of rock and roll.of  what was then called fusion..  of electric instruments in general.. Mingus felt that  they stole the power of “ voicing” from the musicians…too easy.. too many electronic tricks..no soul… but .. he did refer to one particular electric guitarist..

Tal Farlow… who had unadorned “feel “ for a moderately amplified guitar. At that time Tal had retired and was painting houses in New Jersey. He would later return to the jazz world to a respected position through out the 80s….

     That evening in the studio with Mingus I asked if he had ever heard Jeff Beck’s version of the famous Mingus blues “Goodbye Porkpie Hat “…The challenge with jazz is that its one of those…you’d recognize it if you heard it tune’s ….. The Porkpie Hat  was worn by Lester “Prez” Young ,..tenor saxophonist with Billie Holiday for many years. Mingus’ beautiful piece was an homage to “ Prez”. It is one of my favorite blues.

       Mingus had never heard Jeff Beck’s version. I remember him sitting there stone silent with headphones on digest every single nuance. Jeff Beck’s version uses the electric guitar to the max. Overtones and voicings that threatened to change Ming’s opinion of electric guitar. When it was over there was silence..I said ..”wadaya think?”…..he just quietly went 

“hmmm….that’s really interesting..”..too me that was a rave review…

     A few months later he would get involved with Joni Mitchells Mingus Album..and then record his last album..3 or 4 Shades of Blue..which would ironically feature 3 guitarists on many of  his classics. Playing acoustic and ELECTRIC guitars..Larry Coryell ( Murali’s dad) Phillip Catherine and John Scofield. And there was a version of Porkpie with Larry Coryell.  

    Years later  Murali Coryell recorded an extraordinary version with his father and brother Julian. On the album The Coryell’s . It has become my favorite version of the song…One of the greatest blues EVER recorded..

……at least for me….

 Murali Coryell  is a friend.. It was my pleasure to introduce him to his idol B.B.King  and get him on the bill with BB..Murali has been on the bill with BB king many times since then.…. I finally got to tell Murali the story of Ming and Jeff Beck… somehow I felt that I had made a connection that went from Ming and  Murali’s  dad.. to Murali and his dad…I felt that Murali was no longer in the shadow of his incredibly talented father..but toe to toe with him on this project…. and Porkpie is my personal highlight of that project

       I am brought back to the Joyous Lake …to The Charles Mingus Quintet…. And one wild night in December 1976 when ..during Better Get Hit In Your Soul ..a raucous number.. tenor saxophonist….Hamiett Bluett began to play a solo on one foot with his left leg tucked behind his right.Therefore the entire solo of rapid fire sixteenth notes is played as he was losing his balance….not even Jimi setting his guitar on fire was more exciting…the solo was so strong and over the top…that when he finally put his leg down to a standing ovation..he got off the bandstand..still playing ..and walked out the front door of The Joyous Lake…I think we would have all followed him..if he didn’t walk around the building and come back in….

Ming was just smiling…never missing a beat…. The entire room was alive with music..and we were all a part of it..

..Ron Merians gave up the club at the end of the 70’s. He died in the 80’s.

After he passed there was a candle lighting ceremony at the club and such luminaries as Michael Lang ( of Woodstock concert fame) and pianist Warren Bernhardt ( of Simon and Garfunkel and Steely Dan fame)  were there.. There was a blues jam session..I actually sat in and played some harp behind Ameratta Marx ..a wonderful blues singer who had not only been a waitress at The Lake in the old days ..but was for a short time a member of The Blues Project..( legendary certainly applies here)

 The Lake came back in the 90’s….for a short while..it was not the same …everything was turned around..the  stage was in the wrong place…no more kitchen…no more intimate café tables and booths..It had gone from one of the finest listening rooms on the planet to just another bar…. “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot”..(there I go quoting Joni again)…

Written 12/12/2015