Jazz Composers Workshop

In 1941 the room where the new rhythm was being assembled was not being documented by any record company — the discs were cut by a customer who carried his own portable recorder into Minton's. That is the only reason we can hear Kenny Clarke, the house drummer, as he played then: the amateur recordings surfaced sixteen years later as Jazz Immortal - After Hours Monroe's Harlem Mintons (1957).

Mingus is best known as a bandleader fronting his own groups, but here he turns up as a sideman on a landmark live album. The bass sound at the show was recorded so poorly that Mingus later re-recorded his entire bass part as a studio overdub — the "live" record isn't quite live.