Died On This Date (January 5, 1979) Charles Mingus / Jazz Icon
themusicsover Charles Mingus
April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979
Charles Mingus was a universally respected composer, bandleader and pioneering jazz bassists. Though hard to categorize, Mingus’ music drew heavily from hard bop and free jazz. As a composer, Mingus knew few equals, with many compositions considered too difficult to play by even the best of players. Throughout his career, Mingus played with the likes of Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Bud Powell. Mingus was extraordinarily prolific, with one decade beginning during the ’60s seeing over 30 new albums alone. During his later years, Mingus suffered from Lou Gehrig’s disease, forcing him to give up playing the bass. On January 5, 1979, Charles Mingus died of Lou Gehrig’s disease at the age of 56.
What You Should Own
Drew Glackin is best remembered as the bassist for critically praised Americana band, the Silos. He also played bass for Graham Parker, Susan Tedeschi, and the Crash Test Dummies. A multi-instrumentalist, Glackin could play the piano, trumpet and French horn while still in elementary school and soon thereafter picked up the guitar and bass. He studied music while in college in Hartford, Connecticut where he worked booking talent at a local club. He joined the Silos in 1998. Drew Glackin was 44 when he died on January 5, 2008 of cardiac arrest brought on by an undiagnosed thyroid condition.
Mal Evans worked as the Beatles’ road manager for many years and also appeared in minor roles on several of their records. He also discovered and produced Badfinger. Evans was working as a bouncer at the Cavern Club in Liverpool when, in 1963, Beatles’ manager, 
If there was such a thing as a “5th Door,” Danny Sugarman would likely have been it. Besides being the Doors’ second manager, Sugarman wrote the two definitive books on 