Search - Charles Mingus :: Ah Um 50th Anniversary (Legacy Edition)

MINGUS AH UM:50th ANNIVERSARY

Stuart Jefferson | San Diego,Ca | 05/26/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Two discs 77 and 74 minutes each approximately. The sound is extraordinarily good,with open spaces between the instruments,which are crisp and clean. In addition,Mingus' voice can be heard very clearly (he sometimes shouts a bit when playing) in this music. The booklet has notes written by Michael Cuscuna. There is a track-by-track explanation,which gives much insight into this great music. Also included are quite a few nice photographs of the group in the studio. There is also a PDF file that can be accessed for more insight into this album.



This album,along with 1960's MINGUS DYNASTY (included here) is some of the best music Mingus ever released. The musicians who play here are some of the best jazz musicians in history. Names like John Handy,Booker Ervin,Jimmy Knepper,Dannie Richmond,and Roland Hanna make up most (but not all) of the group(s) for these two fine recordings.

Most Mingus listeners will already have these two albums in their collection,but having both in one package,with great sound is hard to pass up. For the uninitiated,this is jazz that belongs in your library,and should be your next purchase.



There are three bonus tracks appended to the 1959 release MINGUS AH UM-"Pedal Point Blues","GG Train",and "Girl of My Dreams". There are also three AH UM alternate tracks-"Bird Calls","Better Git It In Your Soul",and "Jelly Roll". The album MINGUS DYNASTY has one bonus track,"Srollin' (Nostalgia In Times Square)". This last track has a vocal by Honey Gordon,the daughter of one of Mingus' friends,Nat Gordon,who wrote lyrics for the piece.



Together,these two albums contain some of Mingus' most intricate and imaginatively scored parts for the various musicians. The fine producer Teo Macero worked with Mingus,bringing out some of Mingus' best writing. MINGUS AH UM was the better of the two albums,with the second not quite as intense as the first release. But both are landmark jazz albums,along with quite a number (BLUES AND ROOTS for one) of other Mingus albums. The combination of Mingus' writing and the high caliber of musicians heard here is unbeatable. This is timeless jazz which anyone who has a liking for jazz needs to hear. It's as simple as that."