Drummer and Missy's Place

[honyaker]

Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” is the Charles Mingus elegy to saxophonist Lester Young who died from Lou Gehrig’s disease shortly before the album “Mingus Ah Um” was recorded. John Handy and Booker Ervin are featured on tenor sax. Joni Mitchell wrote lyrics to this and other Mingus compositions in a collaboration with Mingus in what was to be his final musical project. It was released in 1979 on her album “Mingus”. The song is one of Mingus’s most recognizable compositions. It was recorded by numerous artists across several genres including Jeff Beck, Pentangle, John McLaughlin, Andy Summers, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Mingus re-recorded it several times with other personnel, once under the title, “Theme for Lester Young.”