Charles Mingus - Mingus (RSDBF22)

1xLP on Turquoise Vinyl While not reaching the heights of other recordings of its era like Mingus Ah Um, this album presents a fine collection of musicians who complement the increasingly adventurous compositions of Charles Mingus. As much a tribute album as an exploration of Mingus' psyche, this recording for the Candid label contains three works. There's "MDM (Monk Duke & Me)," which features the players in Mingus' Jazz Workshop weaving through three intertwining themes: Duke Ellington's "Main Stem," Thelonius Monk's "Straight, No Chaser," and Mingus' own "Fifty-First Street Blues." The song manages to echo the styles of all three songs while tying them together in a unified whole. "Stormy Weather," the second track on the album, finds Mingus working within the classic quartet (Mingus, Dannie Richmond, Eric Dolphy, and Ted Curson) to produce a somewhat deconstructed version of the classic song. The third track, though, takes a completely different tune. The larger band is brought