St. Thomas and Summertime: Converging Caribbean Influences In Rollins and Mingus

Charles Mingus recorded a funky, Latin-esque version of "Summertime" by Gershwin with Dannie Richmond and Hampton Hawes on piano. Check it out here. In it, Dannie Richmond plays a breathtaking Afro-Caribbean drum solo quite melodic. It seems likely that Richmond (and Mingus) were listening to Sonny Rollins Saxophone Colossus which was released in 1956, a year before Mingus's Trio album with Hampton Hawes and Dannie Richmond came out. Listen to Max Roach's solo on "St. Thomas" here and see what I am talking about. "St. Thomas" is based on a calypso tune called "Fire Down There," and I have written a previous blog post about the song that can be found here. Hilariously, Louis Farrakhan recorded a version of "Fire Down There" during his calypso singer days, but I have not be able to locate that on youtube to share...Anywho, if you listen closely, you can tell that Dannie Richmond was listening to Roach as well as Afro-Caribbean percussion. The drums are tuned in such a way and played in a polyrhythmic style that suggests the drummer is playing with the melody and engaging in dialogue with himself. In addition to Richmond's drumming on "Summertime," Mingus takes the listener down a "Latin path" with his ostinato playing. Like "St. Thomas," the song also switches between standard African-American jazz swing, and the Afro-Caribbean rhythms, particularly during Hampton Hawes's piano solo.

Sonny Rollins and Max Roach. The latter played on Saxophone Colossus.

In addition to influences from "St. Thomas" and Caribbean calypso, I argue Mingus was also listening to "Night in Tunisia" and Latin jazz more broadly. Listen to Mingus, Bud Powell, Gillespie, Parker, and Roach play "Night in Tunisia" here for an example of Mingus playing in the Latin jazz vein. The stylistic variation and back-and-forth between the straight swing and Cuban rhythms lacks the seamlessness of later forms of Latin jazz, which can also been seen in "Summertime." Nevertheless, it is clear that Mingus was taking influences from "Tunisia" and "St. Thomas" in his own rendition because of the obvious debt Richmond owes to Roach's solo on the latter song but also the fusion of Latin themes and rhythms (as well as the Latin ostinato from Mingus) that Gillespie helped popularize with songs like "Night in Tunisia."