After several sessions with Columbia and Candid, Charles Mingus briefly returned to Atlantic and cut the freewheeling Oh Yeah, which AllMusic says has to rank as the wildest of all his classic albums. Mingus displays all of his vigorous jazz feeling on this album; he plays no bass whatsoever, hiring Doug Watkins to fill in while he accompanies the group on piano and contributes bluesy vocals to several tracks (while shouting encouragement on nearly all of them).

One of the really fine things about Mingus is that he always seems to keep an earthy touch no matter how wild the harmonies get, and that genius comes across with power here. Some of the colorful titles are “Devil Woman,” “Eat That Chicken,” and “Hog Callin’ Blues.”

Mingus’ vocal selections radiate the same dementia, whether it’s the stream-of-consciousness blues couplets on “Devil Woman,” the dark-humored modern-day spiritual “Oh Lord Don’t Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me,” or the dadaist stride piano bounce of “Eat That Chicken,” a nod to Fats Waller’s comic novelties.

Pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings, and housed in a tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jacket with film lamination by Stoughton Printing.