Did Columbia Records refuse to record vocals for 'Fables of Faubus'?

May 6, 2020 1:34 PM

The first recorded version of Charles Mingus' 'Fables of Faubus' appears, as an instrumental, on 1959's Mingus Ah Um, on Columbia Records. A later recording, 'Original Faubus Fables,' has lyrics. Did 'Fables of Faubus' have lyrics when Mingus was recording Mingus Ah Um, and did Columbia refuse to let Mingus and Dannie Richmond record them?

One source (Gene Santoro's Myself When I Am Real) claims that 'Columbia, Mingus said, wouldn't let them record the lyrics,' while another (liner notes to the 1998 reissue) claims that the piece started as an instrumental, and only gained lyrics later. This seems to be true, though it leaves out the detail of whether the song had lyrics when he recorded Mingus Ah Um.

posted by box to Media & Arts (2 answers total)

Best answer: Pretty sure there's a Dannie Richmond interview where he confirmed that the lyrics pre-date the Columbia recording, but I can't find it. From Ingrid Monson's Freedom Sounds: Civil Rights Call out to Jazz and Africa, 2010: A year earlier Columbia Records had nixed the lyrics to Charles Mingus's "Fables of Faubus," which appeared on Mingus Ah Um as an instrumental. On October 20, 1960, Mingus recorded the piece with lyrics for Candid Records. The lively exchange between Mingus and drummer Dannie Richmond, which had been a part of live performances of the work since 1957, were made available to a larger public for the first time on this recording under the title "Original Faubus Fables."
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:23 PM on May 6, 2020 [4 favorites]

Best answer: Dannie Richmond recalls: “At the beginning it didn’t even have a title. We were playing it one night and the line ‘Tell me someone who’s ridiculous’ just fell in with the original line, and I happened to respond with ‘Governor Faubus!’ At that time, Mingus and I had a thing where if something of musical importance happened on the bandstand, we’d leave it in.”

That exchange proved to be too much for Columbia’s exec’s stomachs and they demanded to keep the piece instrumental. Mingus yielded, but not for long. A year later he recorded the piece again, this time for the newly founded, cause-friendly Candid label, with producer Nat Hentoff. This time the full exchange and more was recorded with a quartet including Ted Curson on Trumpet, Eric Dolphy on Alto Sax and Dannie Richmond. Mingus starts by introducing the piece: “Dedicated to the first, or second or third, all-American heel, Faubus.” Heel is a slang used in pro-wrestling for a contemptible player who will employ dirty tactics to win. The resulting album was Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus. For contractual reasons the piece is named Original Faubus Fables on this album. -JazzBluesNews, June 10, 2018 (via a December 14, 2016 blog entry at The Music Aficiando)
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:55 PM on May 6, 2020 [7 favorites]