Charles Mingus

Mingus Ah Um Charles Mingus

LIMITED EDITION CLASSIC LPs

HIGH-DEFINITION PREMIUM VINYL PRESSING FOR SUPER FIDELITY

THE WAY THIS MUSIC WAS MEANT TO BE HEARD

180 gram VINYL -AUDIOPHILE PRESSING

MINGUS AH UM (Columbia CS-8171), featuring an

all-star group including Jimmy Knepper, John Handy, Booker

Ervin and Curtis Porter (aka Shafi Hadi), was Charles Mingus' first LP for

Columbia. By the mid-50s, Mingus had formed his own publishing and

recording companies to protect and document his growing repertoire

of original music. He also founded the "Jazz Workshop," a group

which enabled young composers to have their new works performed

in concert and on recordings. One of those albums was Mingus Ah

Um, an extremely personal work that once again showcased Mingus'

unique talent for breaking new ground. "Fables of Faubus" is one

of Mingus's most explicitly political works. The song was written as

a direct protest against Arkansas governor Orval E. Faubus, who in

1957 sent out the National Guard to prevent the integration of Little

Rock Central High School by nine African American teenagers. The

extensive original liner notes, included below, were written by Diane

Dorr-Dorynek, who by this time was not only Mingus' publicist and

agent, but also his lover.