Beneath the Underdog: His World as Composed by Mingus is the autobiography of jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus. It was first published in 1971, by Alfred A. Knopf.
Background Mingus worked on his autobiography for more than two decades. One newspaper indicated in October 1961 that the book "is due out in a couple of weeks".Young, Masco (October 21, 1961) "The Grapevine". Pittsburgh Courier. p. A21. The following year, The New York Times reported that author Louis Lomax was collaborating with Mingus in the writing and editing of "an eight-year-old, portly, angry manuscript of 1,500 pages", and that publishers in France and Japan had bid for the book.Shelton, Robert (August 27, 1962) "Jazz Man Is Changing His Beat". The New York Times. p. 17. The original proposed title was Memoirs of a Half Yellow Schitt Covered Nigger.
It was finally published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1971. The published form, edited by Nel King, reduced the original manuscript by more than two thirds.Harrington, Richard (June 2, 1993) "Mementos of Mingus: Library of Congress Acquires Works of Composer". The Washington Post. p. B1. Before editing, the typescript contained mostly dialog; a lot of the prose was formed during King's second edit. She chose to retain the pimp stories, thereby giving them greater prominence than in the original manuscript; this decision may have been related to the commercial success of Iceberg Slim's book, Pimp, in the late 1960s.
Reception The reviewer for the journal Notes commented that "the reader is forced to plow through page after page of erotica (some might label it pornography) in order to ferret out the most basic kind of information about the man and his music." The Washington Posts reviewer stated that the book is "sexual fantasy and tortured personality conflict", and complained that there was little information about Mingus' music or those he played with.West, Hollie I. (May 15, 1971) "Bass Viol Book". The Washington Post. p. C4. The Observers reviewer believed that "Mingus has made a contribution to recent American literature that even his well-wishers could not have anticipated", and stressed that the bassist had described "what it feels like to be an artist – actually be it, in a world that is not only trying to stop you being an artist but has tried to stop you being human in the first place."James, Clive (August 15, 1971) "Jim Crow in the Jazz World". The Observer. p. 23.
Writer Toby Litt stated that "His autobiography is that of a profoundly troubled, often bitter man who never feels loved enough but constantly undermines those loves offered to him."Litt, Toby "Penguin Readers' Group" . Penguin. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
Mingus' last wife, Sue Mingus, indicated that the book was an account of "the superficial Mingus, the flashy one, not the real one."Rockwell, John (January 9, 1979) "Charles Mingus, 56, Bass Player, Bandleader and Composer, Dead". The New York Times. p. A1.
Legacy The original manuscript was acquired, along with other material documenting Mingus' life, by the Library of Congress in 1993.
Readings from the book were included in Hal Willner's recording, Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus.Fusilli, Jim (November 18, 1992) "On Records: Power Pop". The Wall Street Journal. p. A14.
Further reading Excerpt from a 2016 biography of Charles Mingus
See also List of jazz biographies
References
Bibliography