Three or Four Shades of Blues

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Three or Four Shades of Blues
File:Three or Four Shades of Blues.jpg
Studio album by Charles Mingus
Released 1977 (1977)
Recorded March 9, 10 & 29, 1977 in NYC
Genre Jazz
Length 44:13
Label Atlantic
Producer Ilhan Mimaroglu
Charles Mingus chronology
Changes Two
(1975)Changes Two1975
Three or Four Shades of Blues
(1977)
Cumbia & Jazz Fusion
(1978)Cumbia & Jazz Fusion1978

Three or Four Shades of Blues is an album by Charles Mingus recorded for the Atlantic label in 1977. It features two new versions of Mingus' "standards" and three new compositions performed by large ensembles featuring saxophonists Ricky Ford, George Coleman, and Sonny Fortune, pianists Jimmy Rowles and Larry Coryell, guitarists Philip Catherine and John Scofield, bassists Ron Carter and George Mraz, trumpeter Jack Walrath, and drummer Dannie Richmond.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 3/5 stars[1]
Q 3/5 stars[2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide 3/5 stars[3]
The Village Voice A–[4]

In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau said the second side on Three or Four Shades of Blue was "the best composed bebop" he had heard in 1977, partly because Coryell and Fortune gave their most impressive performances in some time.[4] The New Yorker found the record "subtle and funny and full of Mingus's peculiar and unmistakable authority".[5] AllMusic's Stuart Kremsky was less enthusiastic in a retrospective review, writing that it was not Mingus's "best work, but not without merit". He felt the title track was one of his most successful attempts at longer compositions, even though he said the electric guitars were out of place.[1]

Track listing

All compositions by Charles Mingus.

Side one
No. Title Recording date Length
1. "Better Get Hit in Yo' Soul"   March 9, 1977 4:35
2. "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat"   March 9, 1977 7:00
3. "Noddin Ya Head Blues"   March 9, 1977 10:29
Side two
No. Title Recording date Length
4. "Three or Four Shades of Blues"   March 29, 1977 12:03
5. "Nobody Knows"   March 11, 1977 10:06

Personnel

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Kremsky, S. Allmusic Review accessed April 15, 2009.
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  5. The New Yorker, Volume 53, Issues 46-52, p. 63.

External links