Charles Mingus discusses live performances.

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Charles Mingus discusses the blues.

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Charles Mingus discusses musical inspiration.

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Q: “You probably know as much about the blues as anybody. You’re the only person that I’ve ever talked to who will sit down and not say anything about the blues but talk about sad blues, depressed blues, happy blues, angry blues; and you break it down so much and it is so true!”

A: “You know, I learned from T-Bone Walker. From T-Bone, remember Ari Joe Hannah ... Ari Joe what's his name? Joe Turner. Ari Joe Hannah [ph] is another one. Jimmy Witherspoon. I worked with all these guys when I was coming up as a kid. They’re not that much older than I am, but that 3 or 4 years difference then is a lot of difference in age. Oh, you know, Wynonie Harris. He wasn’t a great deep blues singer like T-bone. T-Bone could go the whole gamut, right? Sad, he make you cry out the blues. Sensual blues, you know a guy can play, man. He can play separate the emotions from a music from one piece to the next, you know.”