Mingus Ah Um

Charles Mingus

1959

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50%

Distribution

Genres: Jazz Styles: Hard Bop, Bop

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Album Summary

Mingus Ah Um is a studio album by American jazz musician Charles Mingus which was released in October 1959 by Columbia Records. It was his first album recorded for Columbia. The title is a corruption of an imaginary Latin declension. It is common for Latin students to memorize Latin adjectives by first saying the masculine nominative (usually ending in "-us"), then the feminine nominative ("-a"), and finally the neuter nominative singular ("-um")—implying a transformation of his name, Mingus, Minga, Mingum. The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013. It was ranked 380 on the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The cover features a painting by S. Neil Fujita.

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Feb 23 2026 Author

I'd love to write something eloquent about how beautiful this is, but I can't. I lack the talent to do it justice. Amazing stuff.

Feb 23 2026 Author

Over 4 years ago in my notes to Charles Mingus’ “The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady” album I wrote: ‘Rounding this one up to a 4 although I'm hoping some future version of me will want to change it to a 5.’ I should go back and listen to that and determine if this is the future version of me I was hoping for, because I really enjoyed this album and can easily rate this a 5.

Feb 23 2026 Author

Post-bop. Ni fu ni fa.