Charlie Mingus

Charles Mingus came to his instrument through a deal. Growing up in Watts, Los Angeles, he had studied trombone and then cello, until saxophonist Buddy Collette offered him a place in his swing band on one condition: he had to play bass. That bargain gave jazz one of its most commanding players and fearless composers.

His temper proved as famous as his talent. Duke Ellington fired him after a backstage fight with trombonist Juan Tizol, so Mingus forged his own path, co-founding Debut Records with Max Roach in 1952 and issuing the celebrated Jazz at Massey Hall live set.

Albums such as Mingus Ah Um and The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady fused gospel, blues and orchestral ambition. “Fables of Faubus” mocked Arkansas’s segregationist governor, though Columbia cut its lyrics, a protest he restored when re-recording it for Candid in 1960.