This extraordinary live tribute to Charles Mingus is the fifth superb offering from the great Montréal based contrabassist Normand Guilbeault for the Ambiances Magnetiques label. His marvelous ensembles features Jean Derome on saxes & flute, Ivanhoe Joliceur on trumpet & bugle, Mathieu Bélanger on clarinets, Mr.Guilbeault on bass & voice and Claude Lavergne on drums. All tunes but one by Mingus, all arrangements by Guilbeault and one original tribute tune by Jean Derome. The majority of small group recording by Mingus usually feature quintets or sextets, so it is appropriate the Guilbeault also use an inspired quintet. The only difference is that Normand uses no pianist, a rarity for Mingus himself, but the fifth player is a clarinetist. Normand has selected a number of Mingus’ finest pieces and they are done with passion, fire and that inventive spirit. Like Mingus, Normand also leads the band with his bass at the center of the action. Besides Guilbeault, the only player I am most familiar with is that wonderful alto saxist, Jean Derome. Still all three horns play magnificently throughout. On Pithecanthropus Erectus, the alto sax, bass clarinet and trumpet swirl around that feisty rhythm team, sailing together and held together just right. That great Mingus spirit is kept alive with some truly inspired playing. Very nice to hear that bass clarinet and regular clarinet, reminding us those great days when Eric Dolphy was in the Mingus band. Another great thing about Mingus was the way his bands drew from the long history of jazz. Here also we get those righteous blues spirits, those Ellington-like earthy note-bending vivacious horns, as well as Latin, dixieland and a wealth of other influences or styles. One of many highlights here is their great version of Fables of (George Dubya) Faubus, updated with some most appropriate and hilarious lyrics about our evil president and his cronies. Jean Derome’s MDMD is another gem in the Mingus spirit with superb, bluesy solos from each horn. If you are as knocked out by this excellent disc as I am, I recommend you check out Jean Derome’s swell Monk-tribute trio efforts on this same label, as well as any of the other fine CDs from the grand Normand Guilbeault.

It’s now been 26 years since bassist/composer Charles Mingus died of Lou Gehrig’s disease, and his music lives on. The leaders of these two loving, live-quintet tributes are both bassists. Guilbeault’s, done here in Montréal, has Jean Derome, Mathieu Bélanger, Ivanhoe Jolicoeur and Claude Lavergne on eight tracks including Derome’s MDMD and a rousing Moanin’ (my radio theme for many years).…approach the music with reverence and spirit, though Guilbeault’s is a little more on the cutting edge. Both 9/10

Le contrebassiste Normand Guilbeault voue un véritable culte à Charles Mingus qui a roulé sa bosse dans le monde du jazz de 1940, d’abord avec l’orchestre de Louis Armstrong, jusqu’à son décès en 1979. Mingus fut l’un des rares contrebassistes à composer, et surtout, à mener des ensembles de jazz. Après avoir croisé la route des Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Bud Powell, Art Tatum durant les années 1950, il se tourne encore plus vers l’avant-garde durant les années 1960. Il participera à plus d’une centaine d’albums. Guilbeault, lui, a fondé cet ensemble depuis une quinzaine d’années, par simple bonheur d’interpréter le vaste répertoire de ce géant du jazz. Avec des calibres de la musique actuelle et jazz comme Jean Derome (sax, flûtes), Ivanhoe Jolicœur (trompette), Mathieu Bélanger (fluide clarinette souvent mise en évidence) et Claude Lavergne (batterie), Guilbeault s’éclate visiblement avec Mingus. On passe du bordel le plus complet (Pithecanthropus Erectus) aux morceaux plus accessibles, comme Conversation ou Tijuana Gift Shop, aux vives couleurs mexicaines. Très intéressant!

There aren’t all that many fascinating tributes around being made to the great Charles Mingus, so when Canadian bassist Normand Guilbeault decides to record Mingus Erectus, there is only reason for celebration. Gathering an all-star [Quebec-based] cast, he tramples on competition to give us a heart-felt homage to the late great master of the bass. Sometimes you don’t have to stretch or be on a mission to prove something in order to come up with a great recording. Playing it straight can be an adventure in itself.

All the pieces here don’t sound all too different from their original selves. Jean Derome’s saxophone playing is joyful as ever, rising to the occasion at all the right moments. Trumpet playing courtesy of Ivanhoe Jolicoeur is riveting as he scales those high notes and blows them sky high.

Finally, the bass playing of Normand Guilbeault himself is driven, precise, but too often it just falls a little flat. There are moments when I don’t quite hear the bass as high up in the mix as it should be. But then again, this is a technical aspect of the record. Let’s face it; you can’t really recreate the music that Mingus made. You can only bring your own two cents into the pot, and for now Mingus Erectus is as good an homage as you’re likely to hear.

As Andrew Homy mentions in his liner blurb, it is because the members of this Montréal band make this music their own that they are able to play Mingus’ works convincingly. With a slightly different line-up than a usual Mingus ouffit, the present quintet, under the savvy leadership of one of Montréal’s prime bassists, retains much of the boisterous energy and lyricism that typifies the creations of the Master. Furthermore, this excellently captured live performance bears much of the forcefulness and immediacy, which characterize the Mingus style. Qn the whole, the up-tempo tunes are more successful, wherein the soloists shine over a driving rhythm section. Ivanhoe Jolicoeur, whose appropriately hard bop trumpet playing is full of spark and ideas, turns in some sizzling work; Jean Derome (saxes and flute) and Mathieu Bélanger (clarinets) are no slouches either, each of them deftly navigating through all seven idiosyncratic vehicles heard here. That said, they come up short on Peggy’s Blue Skylight, where their reading of the tune seems a little too pedantic and the energy level flags along the way. In contrast, they attack Pithecanthropos Erectus with soulful abandon, and likewise for that mouthful of a tune entitled All the Things You Could be by Now if Sigmund Freud’s Wife Was Your Mother. Elsewhere, the mid-tempo Fables of Faubus, partly an update on politico-idiocy which zeroes in on George Dubya and his war on Iraq, is only slightly better, but MDMD, a tune penned by Derome in the style of a Mingus dirge and showcasing Guilbeault’s playing to great effect, is both convincing and relevant. Once again, this band is really more engaging in the faster tunes, like the closer Moanin’, best known for its funky signature baritone sax riff.

“… a convincing statement, and the excellent live capture adds extra ambience to the performance.” (All-Music Guide) With Mingus Erectus, the Normand Guilbeault Ensemble comes back to Charles Mingus repertoire, nine years after the release of Hommage à Mingus (“Tribute to Mingus”).