Leroy Neiman Sketchbook: Charles Mingus

I first sketched a young, handsome Charles Mingus commanding his bull fiddle in Chicago clubs in the late Fifties. later, in the late Sixties and early Seventies. I did pen-and-ink sketches of him while he worked the New York clubs, constantly clad in his custom-made black-silk shirts. Mingus was a challenging and controversial man, a fine conductor, a brilliant composer and a musician of enormous stature. When he was struck by a fatal nerve disease in 1977, he could no longer use his hands to play the piano, so he used his voice to compose, instead. My final drawing is of Mingus confined to a wheelchair on the White House lawn during the Newport Jazz Festival, June 18, 1978. The entire gathering, which was headed by President Carter and included many of Mingus' fellow musicians, rose to extend him a standing ovation. Tears streamed from Mingus' sparkling, intelligent eyes as his wife, Susan, tenderly wiped them away. Charles died seven months later in Mexico at the age of 56.