Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz upright bassist, composer, bandleader, pianist, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered one of the greatest jazz musicians and composers in history, with a career spanning three decades and collaborations with other jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Max Roach, and Eric Dolphy. Mingus's work ranged from advanced bebop and avant-garde jazz with small and midsize ensembles to pioneering the post-bop style on seminal recordings like Pithecanthropus Erectus (1956) and Mingus Ah Um (1959) and progressive big band experiments such as The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963).
Jerome Richardson was an American jazz musician and woodwind player. He is cited as playing one of the earliest jazz flute recordings with his work on the 1949 Quincy Jones arranged song "Kingfish".
James Minter Knepper was an American jazz trombonist. In addition to his own recordings as leader, Knepper performed and recorded with Charlie Barnet, Woody Herman, Claude Thornhill, Stan Kenton, Benny Goodman, Gil Evans, Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, Toshiko Akiyoshi and Lew Tabackin, and, most famously, Charles Mingus in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Knepper died in 2003 of complications of Parkinson's disease.
Red Norvo was an American musician, one of jazz's early vibraphonists, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone, marimba, and vibraphone as jazz instruments. His recordings included "Dance of the Octopus", "Bughouse", "Knockin' on Wood", "Congo Blues", and "Hole in the Wall".
Jon Faddis is an American jazz trumpet player, conductor, composer, and educator, renowned for both his playing and for his expertise in the field of music education. Upon his first appearance on the scene, he became known for his ability to closely mirror the sound of trumpet icon Dizzy Gillespie, who was his mentor along with pianist Stan Kenton and trumpeter Bill Catalano.
Debut Records was an American jazz record company and label founded in 1952 by bassist Charles Mingus, his wife Celia, and drummer Max Roach.
Bob Stewart is an American jazz tuba player and music teacher.
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 cover features a painting by S. Neil Fujita. 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, then the feminine nominative, and finally the neuter nominative singular —implying a transformation of his name, Mingus, Minga, Mingum. The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013.
Britt Woodman was an American jazz trombonist.
Don Kiethly Butterfield was an American jazz and classical tuba player.
George Sylvester "Red" Callender was an American string bass and tuba player. He is perhaps best known as a jazz musician, but worked with an array of pop, rock and vocal acts as a member of The Wrecking Crew, a group of first-call session musicians in Los Angeles. Callender also co-wrote the 1959 top-10 hit "Primrose Lane".
Francis Dunlop was an American jazz drummer.
Clarence Eugene Shaw, sometimes credited as Gene Shaw was an American jazz trumpeter and a student of Fourth Way psychology.
Ernie Henry was an American jazz saxophonist.
A Modern Jazz Symposium of Music and Poetry is an album by the jazz bassist, composer, and band leader Charles Mingus, released by Bethlehem Records in mid-1959. In spite of the title, the album does not contain any poetry. "Scenes in the City", however, includes narration performed by Mel Stewart and written by actor Lonne Elder with assistance from Langston Hughes. The composition "Duke's Choice" re-appears, in updated form, as "I X Love" on the 1963 album Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus. "Nouroog", "Duke's Choice" and "Slippers" form the basis of the suite "Open Letter to Duke" on Mingus Ah Um.
"Flamingo" (1940) is a popular song and jazz standard written by Ted Grouya with lyrics by Edmund Anderson and first recorded by singer Herb Jeffries and the Duke Ellington Orchestra on December 28, 1940, for Victor Records. This briefly reached the Billboard charts in 1941.
Adam Cruz is an American jazz drummer from New York City.
Music Written for Monterey 1965 is a live album by the American bassist, composer and bandleader Charles Mingus, recorded at Royce Hall in Los Angeles and released on Mingus's own Jazz Workshop label in 1966. The album was rereleased by Sue Mingus on the Sunnyside label in 2006.
Mingus Three is an album by American bassist, composer and bandleader Charles Mingus with pianist Hampton Hawes and drummer Dannie Richmond which was recorded in 1957 and first released on the Jubilee label.
