“Mingus music was autobiography in sound. Everyone in his life had a role. His portraits, his music trib­utes, his insistence on forcing his sidemen to find themselves in what he imagined, his clamor for recogni­tion, his emphasis on his originality, his refusal to settle into predictable mode, his restless unwillingness to leave the sounds and shows as is – these were more than stylistic trademarks. They were the essence of who he was.” – From Myself When I Am Real: The Life and Music of Charles Mingus by Gene Santoro (Oxford University Press, 2000).