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

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A wonderful collection of work from Langston Hughes – material pulled from a handful of albums recorded for the Folkway labels in the 50s, all of which are pretty darn great and long out of print! Hughes' writings are well known – part of a rich tradition of African-American expression in the 20th Century – but his readings of his own work are equally great – performed at a level that really illuminates the text, and balances them with all the right stress and meaning that can sometimes be overlooked given the simple nature of his language. Most of the sides here feature Hughes alone, reading his work – but a few also feature bits of music too – touches of jazz or gospel that further set the scene, and point to Langston's later experiments with Charles Mingus. Titles include "Breath Of A Spiritual", "Homesick Blues", "The Weary Blues", "I Too", "The Negro Speaks Of Rivers", "Simple Prays A Prayer", "Rhythms Of The World", "The Struggle", "Youth", and "Mother to Son". CD

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". CD

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. CD

One of the most laidback albums ever recorded by Motown – a conversation between authors Langston Hughes and Margaret Danner – presented in a nicely unadorned style for Motown's Black Forum label! There's no music on the record at all, but both writers read some of their work – and while Danner is great, Hughes is really amazing – with that incredible voice that made some of his jazz-meets-poetry albums so wonderful from previous years! LP, Vinyl record album

Raphael Roginski on guitar – performing music composed by John Coltrane, accompanied by Natalia Przybysz reading poems by Langston Hughes. CD

A really fantastic record – a righteous blend of jazz and spoken word, served up at a level that rivals some of the famous collaborations between Langston Hughes and Charles Mingus! The tunes have a similar introspective quality to that work, but are delivered with a style that's maybe more 70s spiritual jazz overall – instrumentation by a quartet that features Jim Work on acoustic and electric piano, next to bass, drums, percussion, and some very cool effects! Words were all penned and spoken by Jim Marks – who also wrote the music, even though he doesn't play any of the instruments – on beautiful tracks that include "Jazz Is Ourselves", "On Black", "Eulogy For Dewey", "I Out To Watch That Ego", and "It's Time To Become". 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". CD also features 3 bonus tracks – "Woody N You", "Billie's Bounce", and an alternate take of "Slippers". CD

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". CD also features 3 bonus tracks – "Woody N You", "Billie's Bounce", and an alternate take of "Slippers". CD

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

Incredible work by Randy Weston – light years ahead of his trio material from just a few years before! The album is one of his most progressive from the early years, and features an extended suite dedicated to the newly-won freedoms of the African Nations – with occasional lyrics by Langston Hughes, and arrangements by the great Melba Liston! The material's political, radical, and modernist – but it never fails to groove, and uses its politics to achieve an added emotional punch, as in the best work from the same time by Max Roach and Charles Mingus – and some of their larger progressive projects. The group is much larger than you'd expect from Randy – with Benny Bailey and Richard Williams on trumpets, Slide Hampton on trombone, Sahib Shihab on reeds, and Candido and Olatunji on percussion – which really dominates the record. The whole thing is amazing – one of the purest realizations of the African influence in Weston's music – and movements of the suite are entitled "Uhuru Kwanza", "African Lady", "Bantu", and "Kucheza Blues" CD

Oh how we love this album – and we think it may well be the best album ever from Charles Mingus! The set was recorded in that magical Mingus year of 1957, but oddly not released until 1962 – missing some of the initial frenzy of his discovery during the Atlantic and Columbia years. But the album's actually a treasure that predates the better-known latter sides – with a sharpness and intensity that Mingus hardly ever matched again! The group is one of his strongest ever – with Shafi Hadi on alto, Clarence Shaw on trumpet, Jimmy Knepper on trombone, and Bill Triglia on piano. There's a slight Latin vibe, as you might expect from the title – but it's very slight overall, and most of the tunes are in that sharply angular, fully expressive style that flowered most strongly for Mingus in the late 50s. There's not a wasted moment of music on the whole album – with tight solos and incredible rhythms that dominate every second of the extended tracks – and titles include "Dizzy Moods", "Flamingo", "Los Mariachis", "Ysabel's Tabel Dance", and "Tijuana Gift Shop". CD also features the amazing bonus track "A Colloquial Dream (aka Scenes In The City)" – an incredible piece of jazz-meets-poetry – with a narrative spoken by Lonnie Eldger, penned by Langston Hughes! CD

A great colleciton – spoken word material, hip singers, and more – with tracks from Jack Kerouac, Lord Buckley, Babs Gonzalez, Carl Sandburg, Allen Ginsberg, Del Close, Dizzy Gillespie, William S Burroughs, King Pleasure, Ken Nordine, Langston Hughes, The Gordons, and many more! CD

A stunning reinvention of the music of Charles Mingus – still very much with all the fire and spirit of the great one's original intent – but taken to new territory here in the hands of Frank Lacy! Lacy is every bit the same sort of visionary leader as Mingus – and although he plays a hell of a trombone, he acts here mostly as a singer and director of a sublime large ensemble that features Jack Walrath and Lew Soloff on trumpets, Wayne Escoffery and Craig Handy on tenors, Conrad Herwig and Earl McIntyre on trombones, Ronnie Cuber on baritone, and David Kikoski and Helen Sung on piano. Frank's voice is warmly raspy, and deeply personal – just right for the straining tension that often comes from the best Mingus music – that yearning for expression that continues to make his sound so powerful. Lyrics here are penned by Mingus himself – plus Langston Hughes, Joni Mitchell, and Elvis Costello – and titles include "Weird Nightmare", "Consider Me", "Eclipse", "Chair In The Sky", "Noonlight", "Dry Cleaner From Des Moines", and "Sweet Sucker Dance". CD

A great set that brings together 2 albums recorded by Weston during his most formative years – the classic Uhuru Afrika album, and a lighter trio side for Jubilee, from 1960. Uhuru Afrika was one of the first-ever Afro-centrist albums of jazz – was one of Randy's most progressive from the early years, and features an extended suite dedicated to African freedom, with occasional lyrics by Langston Hughes, and arrangements by the great Melba Liston. The material's political, radical, and modernist – but it never fails to groove, and uses its politics to achieve an added emotional punch, as in the best work from the same time by Max Roach and Charles Mingus. Players are all totally hip, and include Benny Bailey, Richard Williams, Candido, Olatunji, Slide Hampton, Freddie Hubbard, and Sahib Shihab. Movements of the suite are entitled "Uhuru, Kwanza", "African Lady", "Bantu", and "Kucheza Blues". The trio sides are more restrained, but still quite nice – with Randy grooving with a group that includes Peck Morrison on bass and Connie Kay on drums – on tracks that include "Gingerbread", "Saucer Eyes", "Fe Double U Blues", and "Earth Birth". LP, Vinyl record album

Music from Woody Guthrie, Ella Jenkins, Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, Lord Invader With The Calypso Orchestra, Dr. W. K. Amoaku, Ella Jenkins, Langston Hughes, Ruth Rubin, Alan Mills, Illinois School Children, Suni Paz, and more. CD