Today in Labor History April 22, 1922: Jazz legend Charles Mingus was born on this day. His career spanned three decades. He collaborated with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Herbie Hancock. Mingus considered Parker one of the greatest innovators in jazz history, but he was also annoyed by all the pretenders who followed. Consequently, he titled a song "If Charlie Parker Were a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats." On his most famous album, Mingus Ah Um, he paid tribute to Lester Young on his song "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.” He also recorded on that album the instrumental version of "Fables of Faubus," a protest against segregationist Arkansas governor Orval Faubus.

The “Original Fables of Faubus,” with vocals, is shown in this youtube video. https://youtu.be/QT2-iobVcdw

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