“Goodbye, Pork-Pie Hat” is a 1959 composition, written by jazz composer and bassist Charles Mingus, as en elegy for saxophonist LESTER YOUNG (“Pres”), 1909-1959.
Mingus wrote and recorded it immediately after Pres died, for one of his peak albums, Mingus Ah Um. It is full of love, loss and more than a touch of melancholy for the sad end of Pres — parallel in some ways to Billie Holiday, who died 4 months later. (Pres played on many of Holiday’s seminal recordings from 1937-41, and they reunited for concerts in the mid-late ’50s, both producing gorgeous, unique sound at that point, but both also badly in the grip of alcoholism).
Mingus titled the song after the distinctive touch of millinery Pres was known for.
Mingus is known and celebrated for his roiling and colorful bebop, at times almost dissonant, and at times pristinely beautiful.
This song has a delicate arrangement, and has been covered many times by talented players.
Jeff Beck’s guitar treatment is the most well-known, and also one of the most inspired. From his 1976 instrumental album, Wired.
– Daniel Housman is a screenwriter living in Los Angeles.
