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Charles Mingus - 6 degrees of separation


Bilbo
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I was listening to a Mingus download this morning and got to thinking how many degrees of separation woudl take us from me to the great man himself. The quickest route I could find was:

Me
Stan Sultzman (did a gig with him in Jagz in Ascot once)
Dave Holland (played on Kenny Wheeler's 'Flutterby Butterfly' with Stan Sultzman
John Scofield (played with Holland in the jazz 'supergroup' ScoLoHoFo)
Charles Mingus (Scofield played on the bass players LP 'Three or Four Shades of Blue'

Or

Me
Nigel Cyril (a drummer from Newport in Monmouthsire)
Courtney Pine (Nigel played with the saxophonist once)
Branford Marsalis (Pine played on Branford's 'The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born'
Herbie Hancock (played on Marsalis' Renaissance LP)
Miles Davis (featured Hancock in his second great Quintet)
Charles Mingus (played with Davis on several recordings in the late 1940s/early 1950s

How quick can you get there...?

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Using [url="http://labs.echonest.com/SixDegrees/?start=prefab+sprout&end=charles+mingus"]this site that cropped up here recently[/url], I can go:

Me
Martin McAloon (bass player in Prefab Sprout, and lecturer when I was at college)
Tony Visconti (produced Prefab Sprout and...)
David Bowie
Angelo Badalamenti (performed on the Bowie track "A Foggy Day in London Town", and wrote "Sycamore Trees", played by...)
Ron Carter
Charles Mingus (Carter played on "The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive Ass Slippers")

I take much of that on trust, and there's probably a quicker route.

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[quote name='BottomEndian' post='855960' date='Jun 3 2010, 12:14 PM']Ha! Stop press! I've sung with Lesley Garrett a few times, and she [url="http://labs.echonest.com/SixDegrees/?start=lesley+garrett&end=charles+mingus"]links to Mingus in 3 steps[/url]![/quote]

That still makes you 4 steps like me :)

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[quote name='Bilbo' post='855974' date='Jun 3 2010, 12:22 PM']Actually, I interviewed Ron Carter for my Paul Chambers biography and he played with Mingus on "The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive Ass Slippers"

My God. I did it in 2!![/quote]

Nice one! 'Shoes' album was my induction into Mingus and jazz in general and remains one of my favourites!

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I played with Tony Chapman and/or Carlo Little (pre Charlie Watts drummers with the Rolling Stones), who played with Keith Richard, who played with Chuck Berry, who played with Dizzy Gillespie (at one of the early Newport Festivals), who played with Mingus. That's five!

Edit: Tony Chapman

Edited by chris_b
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I can do it in 4, using only "played with" as a link

1) Back in the late 1970s/early 80s I played in a "free jazz collective" with [b]Hugh Metcalfe [/b] (guitarist)
2) Hugh Metcalfe has played a lot with [b]Tony Oxley [/b](drummer)
3) Tony Oxley has played with [b]Bill Evans[/b]
4) Bill Evans has played with [b]Charles Mingus[/b]

Edited by Earbrass
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[quote name='99ster' post='855979' date='Jun 3 2010, 12:26 PM'][url="http://labs.echonest.com/SixDegrees/?start=steps&end=charles+mingus"]Steps > Mingus in 7[/url]
:rolleyes:[/quote]

Me too, starting with Jon Hiseman whom I met on a couple of occasions.....a bit tenuous but hey :)

here it is

[url="http://labs.echonest.com/SixDegrees/?start=jon+hiseman&end=charles+mingus"]http://labs.echonest.com/SixDegrees/?start...=charles+mingus[/url]

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I can only manage Seven

Me >>
Dave Briggs (local guitarist of note) >>
Scotty Moore & then [url="http://labs.echonest.com/SixDegrees/?start=scotty+moore&end=charles+mingus"]as per this link.[/url]

However...

I can do

Me,
Dave Briggs - who's played with,
Scotty Moore - who played with...

Elvis!

Me to The King in 4! 'Owsaboutthatthen!

Pete.

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In the sixties I regularly played bass with pianist Dave Price. When Bill Evans was in UK he wrote to Dave and sent him the chords for Waltz for Debby, handwritten on a piece of Foolscap (twas the seventies!). Bill Evans played with Mingus.

Does all that count?

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Weirdly easier than I imagined

Me
Graham Gouldman (played through his backline)
Lol Creme (in 10cc with Gouldman)
Sarah Vaughan (sang with Godley and Creme on Consequences)
Charlie Parker (Vaughan sang with him)
Charlie Mingus (played with Parker

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More seriously, I have a good one (this will impress you Bilbo):

1. Clarky once had DB lessons from London jazzer Phil Bates*
2. Phil Bates used to be Stephane Grapelli's DB player in the 70s
3. Stephane Grapelli played alongside guitarist Philip Catherine in the late 70s
4. Philip Catherine was nicknamed 'young Django' by Charlie Mingus



* RIP, lovely old dude, died a couple of years ago, used to be Tubby Hayes' DB player in the 60s

Edited by Clarky
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[quote name='Doddy' post='856777' date='Jun 4 2010, 01:46 AM']Right then...my turn :)

1- I've have lessons with Janek Gwizdala
2- Janek plays with Mike Stern
3-Mike Stern played with Miles Davis
4-Miles Davis played on Charles Mingus' early dates.[/quote]

Substitute #1 with "I've heard of Janek Gwizdala on this forum".

Actually substitute all of them with "I've heard some of Charles Mingus' records".

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I might be able to do better than I thought.

I took lessons with jazz guitarist John Whyte for about 6 months
He played with jazz trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar in the 1980s
Jimmy Deuchar toured with Lionel Hampton in 1956
Lionel Hampton played with Charles Mingus

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