Mingus Ah Um

Mingus Ah Um
Studio album by
ReleasedOctober 1959 (1959-10)
RecordedMay 5–12, 1959
StudioColumbia 30th Street (New York City)
GenrePost-bop
Length45:53 Original edited LP
57:07 Unedited LP and CD versions
LabelColumbia
ProducerTeo Macero
Charles Mingus chronology
Jazz Portraits: Mingus in Wonderland
(1959)
Mingus Ah Um
(1959)
Blues & Roots
(1960)

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 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 (usually ending in "-us"), then the feminine nominative ("-a"), and finally the neuter nominative singular ("-um")—implying a transformation of his name, Mingus, Minga, Mingum. The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013. It was ranked 380 on the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The cover features a painting by S. Neil Fujita.