Albedo
04-28-2007, 09:16 AM
I attended the second performance in a new tour of Charles Mingus's monumental jazz suite Epitaph last night. A brief description and link to the tour site are appended. The original performance in 1989 comprised 19 movements. More have been found and this performance included 22, and was lead off by a high energy "Betterget it into your Soul". I'd never heard Epitaph before, and didn't know what to expect. Quite honestly I was blown away. It began with the "Main Theme" - "Percussion Discussion" -"Main Theme II" sequence. I don't know what Mingus intended but to me this was a swirling maelstrom of musical ideas, overlapping, intertwining, from which the remaining movements could be considered to arise. It's pointless to try to describe the rest of this 2 h 10 min masterpiece. Let me just say one more thing: jazz bassoon solo. I kid you not. Who would have thought?? Unfingbelievable. If you have any liking for band jazz, do yourself a big favor go to this.
Epitaph! Dates continue to be added to the 2007 Epitaph Orchestra tour, which kicks off at Lincoln Center on April 25, three days after Mingus's 85th birthday year. The Jazz Workshop is hard at work correcting, editing and preparing the 500-page score for Mingus's masterwork for the new series of performances and for publication. The 31-piece band will tour for the first time in 15 years, with new material that was not included when Epitaph premiered. Dates are confirmed at the Tri-C Jazz Festival in Cleveland on April 27; the Walt Disney Center in Los Angeles on May 16, and at Symphony Center in Chicago on May 18, with additional bookings in the works. Epitaph was first performed at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in 1989 - the New York Times called it the "jazz event of the decade." Epitaph is the longest and most richly colored of jazz compositions. It lasts just over two hours, and includes a suite of 19 sections, and will be conducted by Gunther Schuller. To learn more about Epitaph, and watch footage from the 1989 Lincoln Center concert, visit the Epitaph (http://www.mingusmingusmingus.com/MingusBands/epitaph.html) section of the Mingus website.
Epitaph! Dates continue to be added to the 2007 Epitaph Orchestra tour, which kicks off at Lincoln Center on April 25, three days after Mingus's 85th birthday year. The Jazz Workshop is hard at work correcting, editing and preparing the 500-page score for Mingus's masterwork for the new series of performances and for publication. The 31-piece band will tour for the first time in 15 years, with new material that was not included when Epitaph premiered. Dates are confirmed at the Tri-C Jazz Festival in Cleveland on April 27; the Walt Disney Center in Los Angeles on May 16, and at Symphony Center in Chicago on May 18, with additional bookings in the works. Epitaph was first performed at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in 1989 - the New York Times called it the "jazz event of the decade." Epitaph is the longest and most richly colored of jazz compositions. It lasts just over two hours, and includes a suite of 19 sections, and will be conducted by Gunther Schuller. To learn more about Epitaph, and watch footage from the 1989 Lincoln Center concert, visit the Epitaph (http://www.mingusmingusmingus.com/MingusBands/epitaph.html) section of the Mingus website.