Editorial Review:

Album Details:
Limited Millennium Edition. Packed in a Heavy Weight Card Wallet that Faithfully Recreates the Original Vinyl Sleeve, Right Down to the Inner Bag. The Wallet Will Come in a Plastic Cover.

Amazon.com:
Mercurial bassist and bandleader Charles Mingus was signed to Columbia Records for the briefest of time during 1959. His Columbia recordings, however, remain some of the most inspired, mood-jumping jazz in history. The flowing sadness of 'Goodbye Porkpie Hat' (unedited here for the first time on CD!) rings like a funeral chorus that pitches headlong into a celebration of Lester Young's life and improvising flexibility, rather than his death. And there's the funky furnace blast of 'Boogie Stop Shuffle' (also unedited!), which reaches its glory with Booker Ervin's Texas tenor sax, wrapped tight in bluesy tone. With the index of emotions captured, these songs nail why Mingus is possibly the most relevant jazzer for the '90s generation. He swings and shouts and hollers and somersaults. His tunes either induce foot-stomping with their intensity or reach for poignant yearning with their lyrical tapestry of orchestral colors. --Andrew Bartlett









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Disc 1:

1. Better Get Hit in Yo' Soul
2. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
3. Boogie Stop Shuffle
4. Self-Portrait in Three Colors
5. Open Letter to Duke
6. Bird Calls
7. Fables of Faubus
8. Pussy Cat Dues
9. Jelly Roll
10. Pedal Point Blues
11. GG Train
12. Girl of My Dreams

Rating: - * Terrific ... Classic Mingus. Recommended for jazz fans and those new to the genre. If you're starting a jazz collection, put this album high on the list. Rating: - * Not to be missed ... An essential part of jazz history. The compositions and playing of this group, especially the presence of tenor Booker Ervin, are bound to remain one of the most important contributions to the jazz idiom. Rating: - * every once in awhile... ... you get a breath of fresh air. its like opening the windows for the first time after a long winter. you've experienced the same thing maybe before but it just feels new. thats what this disc is to me. i'm not gonna get into technical stuff because i cant. i'll say this tho. in my long ago past i was a horn player. this disc makes me remember exactly what that means. i hear things in here i long ago had forgotten existed in music theory. listening to this after thinking of modern day pop is like comparing picasso to a childs chalk drawing on the sidewalk. Rating: - * MINGUS' BEST ... This is Charles Mingus' best and most musically accessible alsbum. Recorded in 1959, it is soul stirring, great hard bebop with some fantastic sax playing by the great Booker Ervin. If you are into jazz, then this is an essential addition to your collection. I can never get tired of hearing this CD. Rating: - * An excellent album from the multifaceted Charles Mingus ... This is the CD you should buy if you're new to Mingus. It came out during a highly creative period in his life, and contains some of his most memorable compostions. Ah Um may not be his most ambitious album or his best, but it is one of his most well rounded and diverse, showing many of the styles, quirks and facets that make Charles Mingus one of the top jazz composers of all time. And it's all laid out in easily digestable morsels, ie some of the songs were edited to make them more concise and able to fit on vinyl. Don't worry, the edits are not noticable. Is it bop? Is it post bop? Is it swing? Well, yes and no. Mingus looks not only to big bands, bebop, and hard bop circa 1959, but also gospel, spirituals, pre-jazz and the blues for inspiration. Ah Um is as diverse and eclectic as it is enjoyable. It points the way to the many directions Mingus was exploring or would explore in his later career. Ah Um is a wonderful look into the music of a great mind and is by turns angry, sad, tender, sarcastic, joyful and damn good. You can feel the passion.