Jazz Workshop: Autobiography in Jazz

This LP, not yet reissued on CD, has 14 selections originally recorded for Charles Mingus's short-lived Debut label. Much of the music seeked to combine advanced jazz with aspects of classical music and quite a bit of the results were avant-garde for the time. Among the performers are drummer Max Roach, singers Jackie Paris, Janet Thurlow (who performs Mingus's "Eclipse") and The Gordons, trombonists J.J. Johnson, Kai Winding, Bennie Green and Willie Dennis (all heard together), altoist Lee Konitz, trumpeter Thad Jones, clarinetist Sam Most, pianists Paul Bley, Hank Jones and Bud Powell and Mingus himself on bass along with a few classical musicians. Some of the material has reappeared on CD but this album gives one a strong overview of the adventurous label.