Elvis Costello grew up in a house filled with jazz. The pop-songwriting master's father, Ross MacManus, was a professional singer-trumpeter, usually working with the dance band Joe Loss Orchestra, and Costello's mum, Lillian, managed the record department of a store and often took her son to jazz and classical concerts.

Even when Costello was tearing it up like an angry young man in the late '70s and early '80s, his hard-driving songs featured elements of sophisticated writing inspired by his love of jazz and its composers. As early as 1979 he covered the standard "My Funny Valentine" for the B-side of a single.

Costello brought in Chet Baker to record a trumpet solo on "Shipbuilding" for the 1983 album Punch the Clock, and he has since collaborated with many jazz people on his own albums, including the Dirty Dozen Brass Band on 1989's Spike and Bill Frisell on 1995's live Deep Dead Blue.

He's also been a regular traveler with the Jazz Passengers, whose members return the favor on Costello's great new CD, When I Was Cruel, which features vibist Bill Ware and horn arrangements played by trombonists Frank Lacy (who also plays trumpet) and Curtis Fowlkes and saxophonists Roy Nathanson and Jay Rodriguez. Despite the presence of all these jazz guys, When I Was Cruel is a raw, rhythm-heavy record featuring some of Costello's catchiest rock tunes in years.

Costello has long been fascinated with the music of Charles Mingus. He participated on Hal Willner's 1992 CD Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus, and it was during that session that he met Sue Mingus, whose new book, Tonight at Noon: A Love Story, chronicles her life with the bassist-composer. Costello has sang with the Mingus Big Band for several live performances, penning lyrics to Mingus' instrumental compositions, as he does with "Invisible Lady" on the Mingus Big Band's marvelous new Tonight at Noon CD.

The following is a transcript of a chat I had with Costello, who was calling from Dublin, about jazz, Mingus, Baker and his new CD.