Mingus Ah Um was the first jazz album I fell in love with, and, for many years, the only one I owned. I found my way to it via a circuitous route. When I was at university, one of my favourite bands was Camper Van Beethoven. Having persuaded a friend of their merits, he bought an LP they had made with avant-garde guitarist Eugene Chadbourne, and then another record that Chadbourne had made with Brian Ritchie and Victor De Lorenzo of Violent Femmes: Corpses Of Foreign War. The latter album included an entertaining version of Mingus's 'Fables of Faubus'.
My CD copy of the album dates back to the late '90s. It sounds fantastic, as the cassette had also done: the band's playing and Teo Macero's recording and production are outstanding - it never sounds anything but fresh, new and alive. My favourite tracks: all of them!
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