Album Description: A Classic Mingus Album from the Bethlehem Records Catalog Back in Print!
Bethlehem Records was a New York–based independent record label active in the 1950s and ’60s. It boasted an impressive array of jazz talent, including Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Mel Tormé, Dexter Gordon, and many others. Shout! Factory is proud to be reissuing some of the key Bethlehem albums.
The composer and bass player Charles Mingus recorded A Modern Jazz Symposium Of Music And Poetry for Bethlehem in 1957, in between such classics as Tijuana Moods (RCA) and Mingus Ah Um (Columbia). The album is much more accessible than its title suggests, with only the first track containing narration by Lonnie Elder (who had also appeared on Tijuana Moods). The rest of the album consists of little-heard but excellent post-bop jazz.
