An Evening With Eric Mingus
Vocalist, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Eric Mingus was born in New York City in the tumultuous sixties, son of the legendary jazz composer Charles Mingus. As a child, Eric played cello, double-bass, drums, and studied voice throughout his school years and beyond. Since then, he has collaborated with countless musicians, toured around the world, and performed on bright stages with Jimmy Heath, Lou Reed, Bobby McFerrinn, David Byrne, Nick Cave, U2, Courtney Love and Yo-Yo Ma, among others.
Mingus is very likable, slyly political, pissed off and very informed. His is a music that is very American, evoking the narrative styles of passionate southern preachers and rebellious blues bohemians, paying homage to “the music that is already in the spoken word”. It’s his riveting voice and delivery that you can’t forget. But he is also very much an urban singer, who explores different elements and the enduring contradictions of New York, and where perhaps the ole’ Mississippi flows into the post-apocalyptic Hudson River. Accompanying his heartfelt vocal delivery, with its soulful timbre and nuanced rhythms, is recognisable, grimy guitar tone and guttural playing style. Eric’s words, sung or spoken, are gratingly personal, laying bare the troubles of his lineage, of a conflict in racial identity attacked more so on the front of external misunderstanding than of internal strife. He sings deeply and soulfully, sweetly and innocently, harshly and devilishly. It’s a complex stew of thoughts, emotions, poetics, and humour unbound by the past, by expectations, and by convention…. with a proclivity for stage improvisation both in the sounds and in the words.
The roots, the blues, the jazz, the soul, the rock; gospels flirting with the rhythm ’n’ blues… subtle and powerful!
30 min. Q & A session
60 min. solo music performance (guitars + vocals)
