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Of all places, Mitch Rowland discovered Charles Mingus’ seminal jazz album The Clown at a pizza restaurant. The singer, songwriter, and Harry Styles collaborator was scrolling through his coworkers iPod when the album jumped out at him. On this episode of The Spark Parade, Rowland explains just how instrumental that mozzarella-scented moment was. Listen above, or wherever you get your podcasts.
“[My coworker’s iPod] was kind of like a jazz encyclopedia,” Rowland recalls. “At some point I was just thumbing through, and I hadn’t heard The Clown by Mingus — and I was immediately grabbed. I just became obsessed with it, and it would completely take me out of my zone and put me somewhere else. I would listen to it at least twice in an evening.”
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Rowland continues to be mesmerized by classic tracks like “Haitian Fight Song” to this day, with the record as whole remaining a core inspiration for the songwriter’s own work. As a fan, he comes back to The Clown often to marvel at its audacious take on jazz playing and song structure.
Listen to Mitch Rowland talk Charles Mingus’ The Clown above, or on your preferred podcast provider, and make sure to follow and review to support the show. You can also keep up to date with all our series by following the Consequence Podcast Network.
Host Adam Unze (The Opus) explores creativity in all its forms on The Spark Parade by asking musicians, artists, comedians, and other creators to share the single cultural work that has most inspired them. Whether it comes from the world of music, film, comedy, visual art, or literature, we all have something that sparks our own creative desires. On The Spark Parade, guests reveal the single piece of art that ignites within them to fire of creation.
