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Myself When I Am Real: The Life and Music of Charles Mingus Paperback – November 29, 2001

by Gene Santoro (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 48 ratings
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Charles Mingus was one of the most innovative jazz musicians of the 20th century, and ranks with Charles Ives and Duke Ellington as one of America's greatest composers. By temperament, he was a high-strung and sensitive romantic, a towering figure whose tempestuous personal life found powerfully coherent expression in the ever-shifting textures of his music. Now, acclaimed music critic Gene Santoro strips away the myths shrouding "Jazz's Angry Man," revealing Mingus as more complex than even his close friends knew. Written in a lively, novelistic style, Myself When I Am Real draws on dozens of new interviews and previously untapped letters and archival materials to explore the intricate connections between this extraordinary man and the extraordinary music he made.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    480 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  4. Publication date
    November 29, 2001
  5. Dimensions
    9.06 x 6.1 x 1.36 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0195147111
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0195147117
  8. Lexile measure
    990L
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The definitive Mingus biography."--The Boston Book Review

"The best examination yet of an American original."--Washington Post

"The great bassist and composer's wild, turbulent life [is] wonderfully captured by Santoro....In sharp and lively prose, [he] digs deep into Mingus' past to sort out the strands of his life..."--Rolling Stone

"As Mingus's story unfolds, Santoro keeps the backbeat with perspectives on the socio-political churnings over those years, all of which affected Mingus's life and music....Santoro is on target, and his writing...soars."--The Boston Globe

"This is a biography as gargantuan in scope and ambition as Mingus himself, and highly recommended."--The Seattle Times

"Written with the elegant hand of an experienced journalist and the insight of a musician with first-rate ears, the book accomplishes the seemingly impossible task of casting a revealing light upon the inner life of its enigmatic subject."--Los Angeles Times

"Santoro brings his readers into the mind of this conflicted genius."--The Philadelphia Inquirer

Book Description

The first full-length biography in seventeen years argues that Mingus was not only a great musician and composer but a central character in the postwar American cultural renaissance

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press (November 29, 2001)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0195147111
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0195147117
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 990L
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.56 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.06 x 6.1 x 1.36 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 48 ratings

About the author

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Gene Santoro

Gene Santoro

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Growing up in a two-room basement apartment in Brooklyn, Gene Santoro didn't know people like him could become writers--never mind make a living at it. But for nearly thirty years, he's managed to do just that. Besides his own books and essays appearing in compilations, his writings about music, pop culture, and history have journalism have appeared in the New York Daily News, The Nation, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, The Washington Post, New Yorker, New York, The Village Voice, Chamber Music, Spin, Rolling Stone, Down Beat, Discover, and Business 2.0. Currently Santoro is an editor-writer at Weider History Group, where he is reviews editor at American History and World War II magazines and helms the annual film-based special issue.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
48 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Ricky M
5.0 out of 5 stars Best musician biography ever!
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2022
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The attention to detail regarding the development of Mingus as a player, arranger, composer, and performer are invaluable. Mr Santoro's work should be required reading for any and all wishing to tread the physically challenging, often confusing, and perceptually inspiring world of musical performance.
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Lee Cronbach
5.0 out of 5 stars The best Mingus book ever
Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2022
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This book gives us all the detail Santoro got from hundreds of interviews with family, fellow musicians, friends. And great detail - for example, the whole story of Farwell Taylor (Farewell, Farwell) a proto-Beat of S. F. with a huge loft where Mingus often stayed, reading dozens of books and getting Farell's Hindu insights , ... just one example. As a lifelong (age 14 to 77) Mingus fan, with this book I at last get the background of Mingus and his friends and band members that I have always wanted. If you are a Mingus fan, get this one!
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John P. Shea
4.0 out of 5 stars Great biography of Charles Mingus!
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2022
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This book ("Myself When I Am Real") is a compelling look at the life and music of Charles Mingus, one of America's greatest composers. Mingus, a virtuosic bassist, had a career that extended from the mid-1940s to his death, from ALS ("Lou Gehrig's disease") in 1979, at the age of 56. Worth reading for its look at music and the demands it makes on its creators.
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Michael snead
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2021
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Well written biography of Charles Mingus Interesting
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Gil Whitehead
3.0 out of 5 stars Subject Matter Itself Worth 3 Stars
Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2002
Any biography of Mingus should, by the nature of its subject matter, earn at least 3 stars. Mingus is too explosive, too mercurial, too much of an American Original, to have his story add up to anything less. Anything more, of course, is in the hands of the author.
It appears as though Gene Santoro has tried to write the jazz biography as jazz - his transitions are abrubt and curl back on themselves, he reuses several motifs and phrases (sometimes so often they become annoying), and he stitches together various pieces to form a supposedly illuminating whole. However, this book is a patchwork that never really adds up to more than the sum of its parts. Most of the details are here - the ex-wives, the feuds over the music and money, the revolving door of bandmates. Without a doubt there are funny and poignant stories, otherwise what's the point of Mingus? But we never really understand why Charles Mingus is in the pantheon of great 20th Century composers (American or otherwise), or how he started out wanting to be the Orson Welles of jazz and ended up its Aaron Copland. And Santoro's attempts to put either Mingus behavior or Mingus music into the rapidly evolving political and social contexts of the 50s and 60s are the usual broad strokes of jazz biography.
The definitive Mingus biography is still waiting to be written. Read Sue Mingus's "Tonight at Noon" for a touching summation of his later years, read the liner notes to "Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" if you want a glimpse of what music meant to Charles Mingus. Most of all, listen to Mingus. And if you read this book while listening to its subject, don't be surprised if your mind wanders from the printed page.
13 people found this helpful
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Jim
5.0 out of 5 stars Great biography of a difficult, though important, figure in Jazz history
Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2016
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Excellent way of getting at the biography of a difficult and enigmatic, though extremely important, figure in the history of Jazz.
3 people found this helpful
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Quidnunc
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2019
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Awesome
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Endre Tarczy
4.0 out of 5 stars Mingus book review
Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2010
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I am not a book reviewer by any means but when this book came out I got it from the library and read it up. The only other Mingus book I had read was his semi-autobiography "Beneath the underdog". Although it's a great title and all it was highly confusing to follow in a timeline. It's written in a very non linear style and then when some while later I saw Santoro's book I could'nt wait to read it. I found it far better of a jazz bio than some of the others I've read. I've read it a couple times and I would say it's well researched and gave me insight into aspects of the man,musician,composer and troubled angry genius that is Charles Mingus. I give it a thumbs up for sure.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Rogt09
4.0 out of 5 stars A very detailed account of CM's life .
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 23, 2020
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I have been collecting CM's records for years and therefore I'm very familiar with his music. This book concentrates quite specifically on his private life and is an epic achievement in that area. At times it is almost too detailed and it can be a little clustered and confusing with almost too much detail on some aspects. His recordings are all mentioned within the time frame they were produced, and this aspect was very good . I had not realised how ill Mingus was when he collaborated with Joni Mitchell for example and snipets like this I found interesting.
If anyone buys this expecting detailed comments on his music and a comparison of his various recordings they will be disappointed. However the discography section is amazing, easily the best I've ever seen.
For me it was a worthwhile purchase , thank you.
One person found this helpful
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Oczkowski
5.0 out of 5 stars biographie de mingus
Reviewed in France on April 24, 2010
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si vous voulez tout savoir sur la vie de mingus un excellent complément du livre moins qu'un chien
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