Tag: Mingus

We’re Back!

After a 4-year(!) absence, I’m trying to get back in the groove with the Jazzgraphs site. The first step is to update the data tables behind the scenes, using data from the MusicBrainz project, a sort of Wikipedia for music information. The potential is enormous, but involves some effort on my end to get things rolling again.

MusicBrainz provides an amazing array of data covering artists, recordings, labels, etc. that can be leveraged for some fun visualizations. For now, I’m in the midst of the data wrangling stage, updating each table with the freshest data available so I can stay up to date. BTW, the data extends well beyond jazz, so get ready for some visualizations that extend the boundaries a bit.

The plan is to get the data refreshed over the next week, and then to start building some interesting networks covering pivotal artists; in the past I did some work presenting networks for Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, and the ECM label.

Mingus:

Charles Mingus musical network

Miles:

Miles Davis album and musician network

ECM:

ECM Graph

Stay tuned for some fresh new work in the coming weeks and months!

The Music of Charles Mingus

In honor of the recently released Mingus live recording from 1973, Jazz in Detroit/Strata Concert Gallery/46 Selden, I have created a Mingus network graph detailing his many recordings and songs, using data from the MusicBrainz database. This new recording is not part of the network, but many other classic Mingus works are detailed.

This graph shows Mingus at the center, surrounded by his many recordings, with individual songs connected to the recordings where they appear. Songs are sized based on the number of recordings they appeared on, providing a quick glimpse into Mingus’ most notable tunes. Use the zoom and pan controls as well as the search box to navigate the graph. The data is sourced from the MusicBrainz database, while the graph is built using Gephi and sigma.js.

Here’s a link to the live version – enjoy!