Pithecanthropus Erectus

[groovy mcgee]

This is my favorite Mingus tune, and I'm interested to hear what you guys think of what's happening in it. I know it's famous for it's periodic outbursts of "free" playing, but I think it's a really interesting composition even apart from this. I'm only familiar with the Real Book Chart, if that helps to know.

[engelbach]

The changes in Real Book 1 are pretty close to what's in the book Charles Mingus; More Than a Fake Book.

The only difference I see is in measure 6, which Real Book 1 has a Dm7 against a Db melody, whereas the Mingus book has a slash chord, Db/D. On the recording I have, this is not played as a complete chord on the head (no A or Ab) and on the solos it's very hard to tell – I'm not a great transcriber. Is it DmMaj7?

The tune starts in F minor, brightening with a little excursion into Gb Major in bars 13-15 and a vamp at the end of each chorus on Fm7-Bb7, which nevertheless feels to me like it's still actually in F minor.

Chords from the Mingus book
|| Fm | DbMaj7 | Gm7b5 | C7b9 | Db/F | Db/D | Eb7b9 | Ab7#11 |
| Gm7b5 | C7#9b9 | Fm7 | DbMaj7 | Abm7 | Db7 | GbMaj7 | Gm7b5 | C7 ||
||: Fm7 | Bb7 :|| (repeat as necessary) || Gm7b5 | C7#9 || (turnaround)

[reviewstew]

Certainly the harmony in this piece is fascinating, but what's most intriguing to me are the sudden changes in dynamics and (as you indicate) the shifts from more-or-less structured to more-or-less "out" playing. Mingus' relentless pedal points sound like they are daring the listener ... saying "yeah I bet you want me to walk up and down the scale like a good little bassist don't you? well tough - I'll move to another pitch when I'm good and ready." Love that.