It's often a good idea to wallow from time to time in the music of Charles Mingus given how he remains one of the most significant of all jazz composers. And certainly you can do this here on a very easy going undemanding canter through some Mingus classics. This album could have been made decades ago by the sound of it. It's rich with a ringing lush tenor varnish and a generous bass swinging discipline from Boris Kozlov at the heart of it all as a twinkling gregarious presence. Looking for more of a raucous sense of freedom or postmodern re-examination? No, it's not her. But nostalgia, and not only 'Nostalgia in Times Square', is certainly a smouldering factor at play. But if completely new to the world of Mingus step right in as some of the gems of his huge catalogue of compositions are included and rendered lovingly and faithfully. And the Blue Moods guys (collective personnel: tenor saxophonist Diego Rivera, pianist Art Hirahara, bassist Boris Kozlov, drummer Joe Strasser, pianist David Kikoski on three tracks) have a ball into the bargain.
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