He played with reckless abandon, embraced the joy of music making, and performed with a fervor displayed by few musicians. His music, a symphony of contradictions, used complex harmony that somehow always sounded like the blues. He came up in the bebop era, but he was a trailblazer in the realm of free jazz. An unusual mix of influences, including his German, Chinese, Native American, and African-American heritage and an obsessive quest to create great art, contributed to his development as a human being and musician. As Mingus said in what has become a popular meme, “Whatever coast he’s on, a man should be himself. I don’t write in any particular idiom. I write Charles Mingus.” 

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