Book Musik Episode 5: Charles Mingus – “Beneath the Underdog: His World as Composed by Mingus”

Charles Mingus Beneath the Underdog book cover

Tosh & Kimley discuss Beneath the Underdog: His World as Composed by Mingus, the memoir by iconic jazz musician and composer Charles Mingus. Mingus’s memoir is known for its picaresque telling of his childhood growing up in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles and his travels to the California Bay Area as well as his time in New York City. While the book doesn’t give a lot of detail on his musical work or his playing with all the greats of his era, it does give an illuminating perspective on race and growing up and living as a black man in America in the twentieth century. Not to mention his many escapades with pimps, prostitutes and assorted other riveting characters. This book swings like few others!

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Theme music: “Behind Our Efforts, Let There Be Found Our Efforts” by LG17