Berkeley. 2013. May 2013. University of California Press. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 9780520275232. A Roth Family Foundation Music in America Book. 6 x 9. 10 b/w photos. 306 pages. hardcover. Jacket design: Claudia Smelser and Man Ee Wong. Jacket illustration: Charles Mingus on his rooftop, 1974. Photo by Sy Johnson. keywords: Jazz American Music . FROM THE PUBLISHER - In words as in music, Mingus could erupt like a geyser speaking in tongues. These interviews let you experience his volatile, high-pressure flow of acute insights and outrageous conjectures. Gene Santoro, author of Myself When I Am Real: The Life and Music of Charles Mingus Charles Mingus is among jazz's greatest composers and perhaps its most talented bass player. He was blunt and outspoken about the place of jazz in music history and American culture, about which performers were the real thing (or not), and much more. These in-depth interviews, conducted near the end of his life, capture the composer's spirit and voice, revealing how he saw himself as composer and performer, how he viewed his peers and predecessors, how he created his extraordinary music, and how he looked at race. Augmented with interviews and commentary by ten close associates - including Mingus's wife Sue, Teo Macero, George Wein, and Sy Johnson - Mingus Speaks provides a wealth of new perspectives on the musician's life and career. As a writer for Playboy, John F. Goodman reviewed Mingus's ...