Plans are in the works to update jazz guru Charles Mingus' music for a generation reared on musical recycling.|

The as-of-yet untitled tribute album, tentatively scheduled for a Christmas release on Atlantic Records, is currently being shaped by Mingus' daughter Keki, Bush guitarist Nigel Pulsford and his sister, Jan (a k a Madame La Puls).

Jan Pulsford, a touring keyboardist for the Thompson Twins and Cyndi Lauper during the '80s, is slated to produce the album with Nigel at her Nashville studio, English Valley, where the two are currently holed up. Nigel's interest in Mingus stems from his college days, when the jazz great was a frequent topic in his music classes. The Pulsfords and Keki are also working closely with Mingus' widow, Sue, on the project.

"They made a Mingus tribute album [on Sony] a couple of years ago that was very intellectual jazz," says Nigel, "We want to show that Mingus is more about joy, regular dancing and fun."

Pulsford and Co. plan to make Mingus fun again by taking loops and samples from some of Mingus' jazz masterpieces and re-shaping them into entirely new pieces. According to Jan, David Bowie will provide a re-tooled version of "Hog Callin' Blues," Chaka Khan is adding lyrics to "What Love" and Cyndi Lauper is also toying with a track.

Rapper Sir Jam, who has previously worked with The Artist, is dropping rhymes over the music to "E's Flat, Ah's Flat Two," creating the more contemporary "Mingus Da Genius." Nigel, who is laying down guitar riffs on several tracks, is fooling around with "Pithecanthropus Erectus" and "Passions of a Man," among others.

Whether or not Bush will contribute a track as an entire band is still up in the air. Lead singer Gavin Rossdale is currently overseas writing songs for Bush's next album, according to Nigel.

Other artists who have shown interest in contributing their talents include Sarah McLachlan, Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt and Kat Dyson and Rhonda Smith from the New Power Generation. Puff Daddy and the Wallflowers are also on Jan's wish list.

"We want to do something that would introduce Mingus to the younger generation, but we don't want it to be a reverent-type tribute album," says Jan. "We want it to be hip." Keki echoes the sentiment: "We're hoping to do something MTV-ish but still respectable. We're not bastardizing the music."

All profits from the sale of the album will go to the Let the Children Hear Music Foundation, a non-profit organization started by Sue Mingus several years ago. The proceeds will eventually help open the doors to two new music institutes in Watts, Calif., and Harlem, New York -- something Mingus himself tried to do in the 1960s but, for various reasons, could not get off the ground before his death in 1979. The planned Mingus Institutes will help further the arts in areas where funding is limited. In addition, Keki hopes that gearing the record toward a younger audience will help bridge the generation gap between her father's music and the hip-hop nation.

"The previous album was just a bunch of old codgers," says Keki. "I hated it. That's why my step-mom and I are working together, 'cause I'm much younger and I have a whole different bunch of people I like. She didn't even know who Bush was." (Kevin Raub for Rolling Stone Network)