LES Heritage Film Series, Season 2, Pt.6

Showing films on the first Tuesday of every month. This FREE series will offer documentary and feature films that were shot on location in lower Manhattan on both 16mm and DVD formats. 

6th part in the series:

Mingus (1968, 59 min., 16mm)

Thomas Reichman directs this 1966 interview with jazz musician Charlie Mingus at the time of his eviction from his lower Manhattan loft.  With his five-year-old daughter Carolyn and amidst the clutter of his belongings, the famed double bass player, pianist, composer and bandleader, addresses the camera and discusses his work, the discrimination he experienced in the United States and abroad, and the often complicated relationships of men and women. Mingus' monologue is intercut with footage of him performing at Lennies On The Turnpike with numbers including: "All the Things You Are," "Secret Love," and "Take the A Train."  At the conclusion, Mingus is evicted from his home and arrested on a mistaken drug charge.  His belongings are hauled away and his double bass is (albeit temporarily) abandoned on the city street.


Mingus courtesy of the Reserve Film and Video Collection of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Mingus has been preserved with funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.