"Each jazz musician is supposed to be a composer. Whether he is or not, I don't know. I don't listen to that many people. If I did, I probably wouldn't play half as much to satisfy myself. As a youth I read a book by Debussy and he said that as soon as he finished a composition he had to forget it because it got in the way of his doing anything else new and different. And I believed him. I used to work with Tatum, and Tatum knew every tune written, including the classics, and I think it got in the way of his composition, because he wasn't a Bud Powell. He wasn't as melodically inventive as Bud. He was technically flashy and he knew so much music and so much theory that he couldn't come up with anything wrong; it was just exercising his theory."
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Composers from the United StatesJazz musiciansBassistsPianists from the United StatesAfrican Americans
Original Language: English
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Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. (22 April 1922 – 5 January 1979) was an American jazz bassist, composer, bandleader, and occasional pianist also known for his activism against racial injustice.
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