Mingus at Antibes puts up a fight

Spencer Patterson

Friday, July 15, 2005 | 8:24 a.m.

If you've seen "Jerry Maguire" you can't forget the scene.

Tom Cruise's and Renee Zellweger's characters are in bed together for the first time, getting hot and heavy while a jazz tape given to them by a friend blares in the background.

"What is this music!?" Zellweger exclaims, as the pair burst into hysterics.

That music -- as any jazz listener will tell you -- happens to be one of the genre's most significant works, Charles Mingus' "Haitian Fight Song."

The song, recorded in 1955 and then reworked for 1957 LP "The Clown," was a powerful, almost violently forceful epic, a sharp contrast to the "cool" style popular at the time.

The legendary bassist explored similar themes on 1959's seminal "Blues and Roots," a disc no one with even a passing interest in jazz should be without.

To me, though, the live "Mingus at Antibes," recorded at France's Antibes Jazz Festival on July 13, 1960, marks the pinnacle of this period of Mingus' storied career.

Leadoff number "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" establishes the direction of the set at once. This is to be Mingus' form of "church music," as he called it, a hand-clapping, foot-stomping variety of jazz, rife with joyous vocal expressions from Mingus and his mates.

The presence of alto saxophonist Eric Dolphy makes the Antibes performance extra special. His free, "out" approach -- exemplified in his brilliant solo on the opening cut -- provides a perfect counter-balance to the more conventional styles of tenor saxman Booker Ervin and trumpeter Ted Curson.

Drummer Dannie Richmond does his typically superb job keeping up with rhythm partner Mingus, whose dynamic presence should compel most listeners to crank up the bass on their CD or mp3 players.

Mingus is in prime form throughout, establishing a bluesy groove on the all-improvised "Folk Forms I" and then anchoring the frenetic "Better Git Hit in Your Soul" to cap off the show.

Piano great Bud Powell even stops by to lend a hand to "I'll Remember April," reuniting two-fifths of the renowned "Live at Massey Hall" crew from 1953.

To my ears, that more famous gig (which also featured Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach) has nothing on "Mingus at Antibes" when it comes to sheer energy, even if it might be a little easier for movie characters to make out to.

Artist: Charles Mingus.

Title: "Mingus at Antibes."

Year of release: 1976 (reissued 1994, Atlantic/Rhino Records).

Tracklisting: "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting," "Prayer For Passive Resistance," "What Love?" "I'll Remember April," "Folk Forms," "Better Git Hit In Your Soul."