Do you want to know what happened to the sounds and vision of Charles Mingus’ music? It seems to have gotten into the ear of composer and flugabone (a variance of flugelhorn) player David Dominique who leads a thrilling band through ten sonic wonders.
The albums starts with a jolt that grabs your attention, with a thick mix of gooey saxes tha mix swing, blues and essences of Sun Ra on material such as “Big Boned’d D.” Fragrant harmonies trudge along the quiet but disquieting “Ritual/Dirge” as lumbering reeds groove along on the charging “Mooey in Paradise.” I what sounds like Dumbo doing a ballet dance, “Ritual/Hostage” is heavy in mass while also light on its feet before the shifting tides of the boppish “The Mulatto Shuffle’ meld sax and brass. The sounds are free and driving, and are always on the verge of teetering over the cliff, but the vehicle spins the wheels fast enough to get you back on the road. A thrilling ride!