Charles Mingus made these recordings in New York in December 1954, during the period of his Jazz Composers Workshop. They first appeared as two 10-inch records under the title Jazzical Moods on Period Records and were later gathered as a single album. The group with John LaPorta on clarinet and alto sax, Teo Macero on tenor and baritone sax, Thad Jones on trumpet, Jackson Wiley on cello and Clem DeRosa on drums moves between chamber music and jazz, on pieces such as Minor Intrusion and Thrice Upon a Theme. This is early work, recorded before Mingus started his Jazz Workshop.

This edition is an LP.