Beneath the Underdog: His World as Composed by Mingus

Excellent book! Very entertaining memoirs and not afraid to stretch the truth for a good story. Gives you a great idea as to what it's like to have spoken to him and is kinda like chewing the fat with the legend.

Fantástica lectura para apasionados del jazz

Quite an interesting read. Mr Mingus was one odd cat.

I am astonished at how few reviewers seem to "get" this book -- I knew it was a masterpiece, that much is obvious to me -- and it has fueled my love of Charles Mingus and his music to even greater heights than before. But I had no idea it were possible that it could be such a woefully and widely misunderstood masterpiece. To be clear where I'm coming from, I try to concentrate my reading on literature, rather than pulp and garbage, as I have the feeling that life is short and we've only got so much time to try and figure it out. Well, for passionate seekers, this book is literature, and it's far from a waste of time - it is, in fact, a crucial document.Sure, it's got some arguable flaws. He DOES go on about sex to a degree that might get a little tedious time and again. And per his disclaimer, there's plenty in here we won't feel compelled to take as 100% fact - yes, that might include the episode with the 20-plus prostitutes in Tijuana. But Good Lord, if you ever wanted a direct view into the mind of a towering, volcanic personality who was not only a musical genius, but a genius of a kind when it came to life itself, this is your book. Is sex not the stuff of life? Would most of us not wish there were more of it in our own memoirs? One of the most impressive aspects of this book are the speeches and dialogues - whether they are transcriptions from a near-photographic memory, or the artful compositions of a first-rate talent, they scream with authenticity, and provide an absolutely rich, riveting and priceless glimpse into the mind of Black America - and White America, for that matter - in the 20th Century.LIfe lived as hard as it can be lived: master musicians, master pimps, wizened old ladies, mean old bastards, precocious kids, happy-go-lucky wastrels, depressed geniuses, many of them waxing deep and philosophical, in short or at length. Much of it is pithy indeed, bouts of wisdom and foolishness that are at turns equally impressive. Heavy, cutting takes on life from souls who have dived deeper into it than most of us could ever afford to, emerging with some of the most vivid and entertaining commentary on sex, race, religion, death and yes - music - that you'll ever read anywhere. Foremost among them is Mingus himself. While obviously capable of brutal and even cruel behavior, what is most striking is his profound sensitivity, his not-always-present but striking capacity for compassion, his astonishing intellect, his voracious appetite for everything - including an understanding of what the hell life is all about, anyway - and his talent for getting big portions of it, if not all of it. And yes - there's also his brilliance as a writer.Is it choppy, is it dirty, is it irresponsible, is it offensive, is it woefully, fragmentary, incomplete and arbitrary, is it sad and pathetic, is it excessive, is it awe-inspiring, does it make you want to quit it's so good sometimes, does it keep you coming back to drink in those sad, searing, hilarious, utterly moving and heart-breaking speeches by Fats Navarro? Damn, it's all of those things as far as I'm concerned, and that's OK.It's certainly fair that a lot of good folks might be offended by the naughty parts, which are in no short supply. Nevertheless, if you're not fascinated by this book, I would submit that your interest in jazz and all that concerns jazz - which is quite a lot of things in this world that are very, very important and sadly under appreciated - is tragically limited. So try reading it again!