The record Mingus does not start as if the eternal questions of mankind would be addressed in it; we seem to be listening in to a birthday house party. Then Joni Mitchell sings about somebody (who is three): God must be a Boogie man! Most of these poetic lyrics were written by Mitchell to tunes that Charles Mingus, a colossus of bandleader and bass player, 21 years older than her, composed. They started working on the album together when Mingus was battling a fatal illness (ALS). Mitchell had to experiment long with the ideal band to record it, ultimately hitting the jackpot with Jaco Pastorius on electric bass, alongside Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock and Peter Erskine who rounded up the summit of geniuses. Mingus was only published in the summer of 1979, after Mingus’s death. It became one of the worthiest tributes in the history of jazz, producing instant classics such as the Dry Cleaner from Des Moines.