Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus is an album by the jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus. It was released in January 1961 through Candid Records. The recording took place in October 1960. The quartet of Mingus, multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy, trumpeter Ted Curson, and drummer Dannie Richmond constituted Mingus' core working band at the time, and had been performing the material on this album for weeks at The Showplace in New York. To recreate this atmosphere, Mingus introduces the songs as if he were speaking to the audience, even admonishing them to not applaud or rattle their glasses. This explains why the recordings on Presents would seemingly give off the illusion of a live album, when in fact it is a studio album.

The album was recorded in New York for the Candid label, founded by Nat Hentoff. Mingus usually recorded on major labels like Columbia and Atlantic, but he was given more freedom on Hentoff's independent label.

Presents has received positive reviews from jazz critics and is among Mingus' most acclaimed albums. The album has been listed as part of The Penguin Guide to Jazz's "Core Collection."