A very cool record! Langston tells the story of jazz, using snippets of work from the Folkways catalog – like tunes by Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodd, Ma Rainey, Leadbelly, and others – all sewn together in a rich narrative on the history of the music, delivered with some surprising illumination by Hughes! His voice is always a treat, and even though his narration of the material is designed for an audience of newcomers to jazz, it more than held our attention throughout – and the record's got almost as much appeal as some of his own jazz poetry work. (Spoken Word, Jazz) LP, Vinyl record album

A landmark meeting of two talents! This rare session has the poet Langston Hughes reading his own jazz-based work, set to arrangements by Charles Mingus, with additional work by Horace Parlan. Hughes' voice is incredible – a bit frail, with a wispy integrity that really opens up his own writings. Hughes was always a big jazz listener, and his work in this respect is a perfect consummation of ideas that he'd always said were present in his work. Titles include "Could Be", "Testament", "Commercial Theater", "Consider Me", "Jump Monk", and "Weird Nightmare". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic album – one of our favorite-ever records from Charles Mingus! The album was recorded in the same breath as his legendary works Tijuana Moods, The Clown, and Pithecanthropus Erectus – and it features the same sort of fire and emotion that made those classics so great. The group alone is amazing – with Horace Parlan on piano, Shafi Hadi on alto and tenor, Jimmy Knepper on trombone, and the amazing Clarence (aka Gene) Shaw on trumpet – all getting plenty of room to open up on the album's longer tracks! The work bristles with a sense of imagination and dark energy that Mingus hardly had in his music in later years – and each new tune brings a fresh sense of vision that never fails to astound us! In keeping with the "poetry" title, the album begins with an incredible 12 minute track "Scenes in the City" – which features a long spoken bit written by Langston Hughes about one man's love of jazz and the way that it affects his life in the city – all supported with excellent instrumentation from the group. Other titles are instrumental, and include "Nouroog", "New York Sketchbook", "Slippers", and "Duke's Choice". LP, Vinyl record album