Mingus

by Adam | Mar 15, 2024

American jazz history is full of big personalities, original sounding composers, and inspiring musicians. Few, however, loom as large in that history as Charles Mingus. Italian journalist Flavio Massaruto brings pieces of Mingus’s life to this story told in vignettes, broken-up with reinterpreted album covers done beautifully by artist Squaz (Pasquale Todisco.) This isn’t a straightforward biography, but rather a series of moments from a life that redefined a jazz movement. After reading you’ll have a sense of the size of the man, the volatile temper, the genius of the music, and heartbreak of his end.

The book opens in 1940 with Charles working as a part time actor in Los Angeles. You see the restlessness in the man and how he can sense the change about to take place around him. This is also where you start to learn that this isn’t going to be a simple biography—there is a double page splash of Charles emerging naked from the ocean with his upright bass surrounded by cherub musicians. The following chapters find him at different musical stops: composing music for films, working in the studio with his band, fights with musicians who don’t understand his vision, struggling with authenticity, and finally battling ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) in Mexico. As we skip through time, there are some sections that have very little dialog and we’re left to experience the setting and tone of the world swirling around Mingus. This doesn’t work well every time, but there are moments that remind the reader about the racism and classism at play in his world.

Each section is illustrated in stark black, white and yellow, with heavy line work and pronounced highlights. Visually, it’s a very interesting story to watch unfold. Squaz has illustrated a very distinct looking story that is cohesive and well plotted. The visual is really what kept me turning pages. Narratively, it left me wanting more.

This book is translated by Nanette McGuiness from the original Italian, and while I believe she did a good job bringing the conversations to life, this *feels* like a European book. American jazz music has had an incredibly wide influence and there are pieces of art that try to reflect back people’s feelings about the music. It often looks like this, a loose and vaguely emotional interpretation of the people and the times. I found myself hoping for more substance here, but without the aid of the music to help influence my experience of the text, it felt a little thin.

There isn’t a publisher recommended age for this book, but I would say older teens and adults would be the best audience. There is mild profanity, some nudity and smoking, but no violence to speak of. The end of the book includes recommendations of other titles to read, albums to listen to, and even some movies you can watch for more context. This much I really appreciated as someone who enjoys Mingus’s music, and was interested in knowing where the author had found their source materials.

Mingus
By Flavio Massarutto
Art by Squaz
NBM ComicsLit, 2023
ISBN: 9781681123103

NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+)

Creator Representation:  Italian
Character Representation: African-American