If you’re not intimately familiar with this music, waste no time familiarising yourself and, if you think you know it all already, take a moment to remind yourself how great it is. If in the latter category but seeking to replace a lost copy, some minutiae may be relevant, such as the fact that many of the nine basic Ah Um tracks were edited on their original release but these unedited versions are now more familiar (some of the edits survive on compilations and YouTube etc). The three additional tracks first issued circa 1980, including the standard ‘Girl Of My Dreams’ are also present, and so far this corresponds to the Columbia/Legacy CD. But squeezed in too is the other version of ‘Bird Calls’, one of the three extant alternatives released on Columbia’s imaginatively titled Alternate Takes. The album’s original sleeve design is hidden inside the case with three Mingus photos from other sources, the cover being nicked from Blues And Roots, just to confuse matters. Finally, for those unfamiliar, the three opening tracks are the original versions of Mingus’s greatest hits, ‘Better Git It In Your Soul’, ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat’ and ‘Boogie Stop Shuffle’. Need I say more?