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Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
CHARLIE MINGUS AT NINETEEN (MUSIC.) MINGUS, CHARLES. Two partially printed "claim sheets," each containing a half page in Mingus's hand, plus one typed page signed by Mingus, all relative to a claim against another musician. In all, three 4to pages, all in very good condition. should be seen. Los Angeles, 1941
a nineteen-year-old charles mingus files a claim with local 767 of the American federation of musicians in los angeles. Charles Mingus (1922-1979), a virtuoso bass player, accomplished pianist, bandleader and composer was born on a military base in Nogales, Arizona in 1922 and raised in the Watts section of Los Angeles. His earliest musical influences came from the church--choir and group singing--and from "hearing Duke Ellington over the radio when [he] was eight years old." He studied double bass and composition in a formal way (five years with H. Rheinshagen, principal bassist of the New York Philharmonic, and compositional techniques with the legendary Lloyd Reese) while absorbing vernacular music from the great jazz masters, first-hand. His early professional experience in the 40s, found him touring with bands like Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory and Lionel Hampton" (Jazz Workshop) In 1941, nineteen year-old Mingus had signed on to play a weeklong date with Fred Skinner's band at the Capri Club in Los Angeles. Skinner, however got fired, and only paid Mingus for five days instead of the seven contracted for. Mingus explains his claim in a clear legible hand and signs a total of five times on the various papers involved in the claim. In the end, he withdrew the claim, probably having come to some sort of arrangement with Skinner and the nightclub. Charles Mingus's signature alone is among the scarcest of all the modern jazz figures.
