This is the first recording by bassist/composer/ Charles Mingus with his newly formed band "The Charles Mingus Jazz Workshop". Mingus' recordings before this date, done in January of 1956, were issued on small, hard to find labels that were poorly distributed, with the exception of his own label, Debut Records. This date was done for a major label, Atlantic Records and when it was issued it really marked the arrival of Mingus as an authoritative figure on the Jazz scene. It was a milestone in the career of this volatile, puzzling and amazingly creative musician. The Jazz Workshop consisted of a young up and coming alto saxophonist named Jackie McLean. J.R. (Frank Anthony) Monterose was on tenor saxophone and the great Mal Waldron on piano and the unheralded Willie Jones on drums. All the musicians except McLean had worked with Mingus off and on for about two years. This was the only recording by this group as they soon left Mingus and he continued his musical quest with another group of players. The album was named after the title track: "Pithecanthropus Erectus". One standard tune tranformed by Mingus was the Gershwin's "A Foggy Day". The beautiful bittersweet ballad was called by Mingus, "Portrait of Jackie" (a feminine 'Jackie' not McLean) and finally "Love Chant", a composition that introduced modality to Mingus' music long before Miles Davis discovered it for "Kind of Blue". One of Mingus' early triumphs.

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