Mingus Mingus Mingus

I've been quite busy these days, playing full-time for Calgary's Decidedly Jazz Dancework's recent production of "Better Get Hit in Your Soul!", an amazing contemporary Jazz dance show featuring the music of legendary bassist Charles Mingus. The show runs until January 20th as part of One Yellow Rabbit's annual High Performance Rodeo festival www.hprodeo.ca/2019/better-get-hit. This production was originally mounted in 2013 but this time it is presented in a significantly larger venue (DJD's amazing new home on 12th ave SE!) and with a few updated tweaks. The show was created and choreographed by the amazing Kimberley Cooper, featuring live and recorded music by Charles Mingus, all under the musical direction of Edmonton bassist Rubim de Toledo (and featuring yours truly on drums!)

Playing with dancers is one of my favourite things to do and working with this company, in particular, is a real honour. Furthermore, I get to play the music of Charles Mingus on a nightly basis with a killer band! It's been a real experience for me so far to play this music on a regular basis and really get inside his notes. Furthermore, I feel that Cooper has done an exceptional job of capturing the essence of Mingus' spirit through her choreography. Come check it out and you'll see what I mean!

Here's a little teaser trailer of what you'll see, featuring the DJD dance company and band on Mingus' up-tempo axe chaser "Tonight at Noon":



To learn more about this unique show visit Decidedly Jazz Danceworks website: www.decidedlyjazz.com or via the High Performance Rodeo: www.hprodeo.ca/2019/better-get-hit

In the meantime, here's some of my favourite footage of Charles Mingus (and Dannie Richmond in particular) that I've been checking out lately for some motivation and inspiration: