Charles Mingus - In A Soulful Mood (1995) FLAC

The music on this CD has been reissued several times in more complete fashion. These Candid recordings feature bassist Charles Mingus in a variety of settings. His remarkable quartet of the period (with altoist Eric Dolphy, trumpeter Ted Curson, and drummer Dannie Richmond), which was in the process of breaking up, stretches out on a lengthy rendition of "Stormy Weather"; "Folk Forms #1" from the same session would have been a more representative choice for this CD. Three songs ("Bugs," "Reincarnation of a Love Bird," and "Vassarlean") find the quartet being augmented by the horn players' replacements (altoist Charles McPherson and trumpeter Lonnie Hillyer) plus tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin and either Paul Bley or Nico Bunick on piano. The final four numbers are quite a bit different, featuring veteran swing trumpeter Roy Eldridge and Mingus with pianist Tommy Flanagan, drummer Jo Jones and (on three of the four songs), trombonist Jimmy Knepper, and altoist Dolphy. The material (a couple of blues, "Body and Soul" and "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams") is fairly basic and finds the more modern players perfectly able to accommodate the fiery trumpeter. This CD serves as a decent sampler of Charles Mingus' three Candid albums, but it's better to search for the Mosaic box set instead. -- Scott Yanow