TUES, APRIL 22 MINGUS BIRTHDAY As testament to to power of Mingus music to attract the greatest musicians playing today, two outstanding Mingus Big Bands are both celebrating Mingus birthday on April 22nd, coast to coast.
IN NEW YORK: April 22 Mingus Birthday Celebration at Iridium in New York City Lineup: Trumpets: Lew Soloff, Earl Gardner, Kenny Rampton Saxophone: Marcus Strickland, Jaleel Shaw, Vincent Herring, Scott Robinson, Ronnie Cuber Trombones: Conrad Herwig, Clark Gayton, Dave Taylor Drums: Gene Jackson Bass: Boris Kozlov Piano: George Colligan TWO SETS 8:30 AND 10:30. MAKE RESERVATIONS AT IRIDIUM 212-582-2121. Preceded by a performance by the Yale Jazz Ensemble at 6:30 pm, no cover. IN SF April 22-April 27 Mingus Big Band at Yoshi's in San Francisco and Oakland Lineup: Trumpet: Alex Sipiagin, Vitaly Golovnev, Greg Gisbert Saxophone: Craig Handy, Wayne Escoffery, Mark Gross, Abraham Burton, Jason Marshall Trombones: Ku-umba Frank Lacy, Andy Hunter, Earl McIntyre Drums: Donald Edwards Bass: Ugonna Okegwo Piano: Kenny Drew Jr.
Worldwide web and radio: WKCR will host its annual 24-hour Mingus RADIO broadcast
And Sirius
celebrates the birth of Charles Mingus with music curated by his widow
Sue Mingus. Every hour, throughout the day, listeners will hear a
Mingus tune and Sue Mingus will explain the significance of each one. Tuesday, April 22, starting at 6 am to 12 midnight ET.
A jazz festival will be held over two weekends in Nogales, Ariz., and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico in a joint effort to honor the late Charles Mingus. Mingus, who played and composed for most of the jazz greats, was born in Nogales, Ariz., and died in Mexico, and this is the second time the two communities, known collectively as Ambos Nogales, have worked together to hold a jazz festival in Mingus’s honor.
By Andrea Canter
Mingus Big Band Birthday Celebration, Coast to Coast on April 22nd
Every Tuesday night, one of the Mingus legacy bands takes over the bandstand at the Iridium Jazz Club in Manhattan to celebrate and promote the music of legendary bassist Charles Mingus. On April 22nd, the Mingus Big Band further honors the 86th birthday of a man of divergent, often controversial tastes and a singular mission to create music. The celebration will not be limited to the Iridium, however, as a second edition of the Mingus Big Band will perform at Yoshi’s in San Francisco as well on April 22nd, then move to across the Bay to Oakland, April 24-27. Additional Mingus celebrations will be broadcast on Radio WKCR and Sirius.
The Yale Jazz Ensemble, led by Music Director David M. Brandenburg, will open for the Mingus Big Band on Tuesday, April 22, 2008, Charles Mingus' birthday, at 6:30 pm at the Iridium Jazz Club (1650 Broadway at 51st Street).
The Ensemble will be joined by special guest Niko Higgins, saxophone. There is a $10 minimum with no cover charge. (There is an additional charge to stay for the Mingus Big Band.) Call (212) 582-2121 or visit iridiumjazzclub.com for more information.
Founded in 1991, the Mingus Big Band performs the music of legendary composer and bassist Charles Mingus. Under the artistic direction of Sue Mingus, the group tours widely in the United States and abroad, and has recorded nine albums, six of which have been nominated for GRAMMY Awards. Since 2004, the Mingus Big Band has performed every Tuesday night at the Iridium Jazz Club, which has been hailed by New York Magazine as “New York's Best Jazz Club".
Niko Higgins is a saxophonist and composer who lives in New York City where he leads the Niko Higgins Ensemble. His two albums, “Inbetween" (2003) and “From Eye to Ear" (2006), are released by Engine Studios.
The Yale Jazz Ensemble (YJE) is an eighteen-piece big band that performs a wide variety of music, from Yale's Benny Goodman archive to the newest and most progressive jazz compositions. The Ensemble has performed extensively in the United States and internationally at such venues as New York's Village Vanguard and London's Ronnie Scott's. The YJE has performed with or opened for The Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, the Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabackin Big Band, the World Saxophone Quartet, Jane Ira Bloom, Jimmy Owens, and Branford Marsalis.
Mingus Birthday events April 22, 2008
Tue, Apr. 8 2008
Two Mingus Big Bands play coast to cost.
Also,
WKCR hosts its annual 24-hour Mingus broadcast
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/wkcr/
Sirius celebrates Jazz Appreciation Month Mingus on Mingus Sirius celebrates the birth of Charles Mingus with music curated by his widow Sue Mingus. Every hour, throughout the day, listeners will hear a Mingus tune and Sue Mingus will explain the significance of each one. Tuesday, April 22, starting at 6 am to 12 midnight ET.
The New York Canon: Books From Norman Mailer to Rem Koolhaas, 26 works of lapidary New Yorkitude. By Sam Anderson
CHARLES MINGUS, BENEATH THE UNDERDOG, 1971
Charles Mingus was categorically uncategorizable: white, black, Asian; bassist, bandleader, composer; L.A., New York. He always insisted that his music was not jazz: It was Mingus music. This whacked-out half-fictional memoir (cf. his early experiences as a pimp) is not autobiography: It’s Mingus writing. It makes today’s fictioneering memoirists look like stenographers, and vacuum-seals the mid-century scene’s flavor more potently than mere fact ever could.
Trumpets: Alex Sipiagin, Tatum Greenblatt, Kenny Rampton
Saxophone: Wayne Escoffery, Steve Slagle, Mark Gross, Abraham Burton, Jason Marshall
Trombones: Conrad Herwig, Andy Hunter, Earl McIntyre
Drums: Gene Jackson
Bass: John Benitez
Piano: Orrin Evans
Friday, April 11, 2008, 2:00 - 3:45
Abstract:
"Mingus, Cassavetes, and the Politics of Improv"
“Jazz is orgasm, it is the music of orgasm, good orgasm and bad, and so it spoke across a nation… it spoke in no matter what laundered popular way of instantaneous existential states to which some whites could respond, it was indeed a communication of art because it said, ’I feel this, and now you do too.’” -- Norman Mailer, “The White Negro”
Norman Mailer’s remarks in his controversial 1957 essay speak to a collision and melding of the races in popular culture that we still witness today. Yet nowhere are Mailer’s themes embodied more fully than in John Cassavetes’ seminal independent film of the same year, Shadows, which featured an original score by Charles Mingus. This lecture examines the complex and explosive collaboration of Cassavetes and Mingus, two of the United States’ leading improvisational artists, at a pivotal moment in the history of independent cinema, jazz, and race relations.
Through an integration of film clips, texts, and still photographs, this presentation examines connections between the film’s loose narrative—of three mixed-race siblings living day-to-day in mid-50s New York bohemia--and the film’s revolutionary making, which in many ways inverted the plot. In Mingus’s score, which Cassavetes edited severely, one finds the truest expression of the film’s exploration of cultural identity. The score encapsulates Cassavetes’ and Mingus’s unique approaches to both improvisation and composition in their respective media, illuminating the oppositional nature of jazz to mainstream cultural production—and in turn, the underbelly of race relations in 1950s America.
Two sets at 8:30 and 10:30
at Iridium, 51st and Broadway.
Alto Saxophone
Mark Gross Tenor Saxophone
Donny McCaslin
Trumpet
Ryan Kisor Trombone
Andy Hunter
Bass
Boris Kozlov
Piano
George Colligan
Drums
Gene Jackson
Mingus and Monk
Show #2526
Explore the music Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk, New Sounds-style. From Cuban percussionist Anga to the Massachusetts big band Either/Orchestra, from ex-Police guitarist Andy Summers to avant-garde composer George Crumb, the echoes of Monk and Mingus can be heard in a wide variety of new settings. We'll sample a few of the more unusual renditions of their classic tunes for this New Sounds program.
...Kozak said he didn't think there has been much of a focus on Mingus at the University.
"I've always admired his music," Kozak said. "It's a great opportunity for students to see what Mingus was about."
Kozak also said Mingus' music is important because students who want to be diverse jazz musicians need to be willing to understand and play all types of genres.
Kozak said he was proud of the Jazz Ensemble and, "They did a fantastic job. I'm super happy."
Some students who attended the concert said they enjoyed Mingus' music.
"The soloists were really fun and energetic. They make you excited to be there. You can tell they're having fun," said Meredith Reaves, a sophomore majoring in music education.
"I liked the selection of music. He's a great composer," said Margaret Dixon, a junior majoring in music performance.
...Simply put, the Mingus Big Band is a wonder and an anomaly. During a time when the few surviving big bands, like the Count Basie Orchestra and Woody Herman's Thundering Herd, tour the world like beautiful museum treasures, the Mingus Band has taken a musical legacy and transformed it into a creative force that generates a contemporary originality and vitality all its own. They are an important part of the current jazz scene and a constant reminder that jazz—big band jazz, at that—is not merely entertainment but a powerful art form and means of expression. Kudos to this band, to Sue Mingus, and to the extraordinary and tragic man whose spirit pervades it all—the late, great Charles Mingus.
...It takes a certain musician to play the demanding, eccentric works of Mingus, the late jazz bassist and composer. The Mingus Big Band, under the offstage direction of Sue Mingus, Charles' widow, has 14 such musicians, all world class, spanning several generations. It is perhaps the most racially integrated large ensemble operating today.
The group's weekly gig at Iridium in New York has given it an extraordinary solidity and sense of daring. Heavy snow couldn't keep the Philly audience away."
...the Mingus group, with its unstoppable rhythm section in bassist Boris Kozlov and drummer Donald Edwards, set the evening's agenda.
Philly pianist Orrin Evans landed improvisatory bull's-eyes on the opening "Haitian Fight Song" and the closing "Pedal Point Blues." Alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw, a Philly-born rising star, followed the formidable trombonist Conrad Herwig on "Ysabel's Table Dance," steering the piece into choppier waters.
"Children's Hour of Dream," a movement from the through-composed epic Epitaph, offered a window into Mingus' Third Stream writing, nearly classical in character.
Fri, Feb 22 Kimmel Center Philadelphia, PA
Arrive early for a pre-show artist chat with Sue Mingus at 6:30pm in the Merck Arts Education Center in Philadelphia. Sat, Feb 23 Elmhurst College Jazz Festival Elmhurst, IL
Trumpets: Lew Soloff, Kenny Rampton, Earl Gardner in PA, Alex Sipiagin in IL
Saxophones: Seamus Blake, Craig Handy, Jaleel Shaw, Vincent Herring, Jason Marshall Trombones: Andy Hunter, Conrad Herwig, Earl McIntyre Drums: Donald Edwards Bass: Boris Kozlov Piano: Orrin Evans
MINGUS BIG BAND performs
Sat, Mar 8 & Sun, Mar 9 Carnaval Miami in Coral Gables, FL
THE LYRIC CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF NEW YORK PRESENTS ITS TENTH ANNIVERSARY SEASON
THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF MUSIC: PROGRAMS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
FEBRUARY 27, 2008 7.30pm Kosciuscko Foundation
AUSTRIA AND BEYOND
David Taylor and Friends
"To the Distant Beloved"
A Journey from Schubert to Mingus
DAVID TAYLOR, Bass Trombone
ADAM HOLZMAN AND MICHAEL HOLOBER, Piano and Keyboards
BELLE EHRESMANN, Beat Box
On February 27, 2008, the Lyric Chamber Music Society of New York is pleased to present bass trombone virtuoso David Taylor and Friends in a special autobiographical concert entitled "To the Distant Beloved." The program, another of the Lyric's special CHAMZZ offerings, follows Taylor's musical explorations from Brooklyn to Vienna in a unique blend of jazz and classical repertoire.
The musical range of award-winning musician David Taylor extends from Bachian piety to Yiddish irony, from the idealism of Charles Ives to the hipster nihilism of Lenny Bruce. Inspired by his travels, and his exploration of jazz while at Juilliard, Taylor's music represents the spirit of improvisation and risk as opposed to conservatory notions of perfection.
The program will showcase the unique sounds of the relatively unknown bass trombone, which Taylor calls a "darkly sparkling instrument." Taylor has put together a suite of Schubert songs and French music by Ravel, Milhaud, and others. He has also developed a suite combining the music of the Vienna Secession, such as Berg and Schoenberg, with the jazz of Mingus and Carla Brey. Called "A Belle E Golden Hue," it celebrates his parents' devoted marriage of sixty years.
Taylor will be joined by Adam Holzman and Michael Holober on piano and keyboards, and Belle Ehresmann on beat box.
In this, as in all concerts at the Lyric, the musicians will speak about the history and background of the music during the evening. And also, as always, a light reception with the artists will follow the concert.
Reception with artists following concert
included in ticket price $45
Student Tickets $15
For tickets call Ticket Central:
(212) 279-4200
The Lyric Chamber Music Society of NY | 20 West 64th Street, Suite 27H | New York | NY | 10023
Jean Shepherd as master of ceremonies...
...Among the highlights of the evening will be a new composition by bass virtuoso Charlie Mingus called “Tia Juana Table Dance.” An authentic Flamenco dancer will accompany the number, which is based on Spanish Flamenco and jazz rhythms. Critic Barry Ulanov said of Mingus “Here is a man who thinks and feels with unending resources both of musical technique and imagination. In other words, an artist.”
Happy Birthday, John Handy!
"In Part 2 of our interview with alto saxophonist John Handy, he discusses a unique aspect of his sound, the origins of Charles Mingus’ Lester Young tribute “Goodbye Porkpie Hat,” the night Mingus made a scene listening to him play, the Mingus gig that resulted in the live album Jazz Portraits."
MINGUS BIG BAND AND ORCHESTRA CONDUCTED BY GUNTHER SCHULLER Damrosch Park, August 26th
Charles Mingus named "Musician of the Year"
and
Unearthed gem: Mingus at Cornell
Charles Mingus Sextet with Eric Dolphy, Cornell 1964 (Blue Note). The clear winner is this live two-disc concert from long-lost tapes of Mingus' most boisterous band in its merriest mood. Regarded as a run-through of the (now-legendary) Town Hall concert a few weeks hence, and the European tour that followed, the session has its wayward moments, but it's jammed with zest and virtuosity. It starts with a head-spinning Jaki Byard piano solo on "Play MediaATFW You" (the initials standing for Art Tatum/Fats Waller), segues to Mingus plucking a soulful bass solo on "Sophisticated Lady," then moves into a string of original tunes—Mingus classics ("Play MediaFaubus Fables," "Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk," "So Long, Eric"), some of them played for the first time in public here. Horn solos by Play MediaEric Dolphy, Clifford Jordan, and Johnny Coles sizzle throughout. Drummer Danny Richmond plays near his peak, too. The discs aren't as revelatory as Monk and Coltrane's unearthed Carnegie Hall tapes of 1957, which topped this list (and many others) in 2005, but they'll do. (Better still, in some ways, is the "Jazz Icons" DVD, Charles Mingus: Live in '64, which lets you watch this same band, playing the same music, much of it a bit more tightly, a few weeks later in Europe.)
Charles Mingus Sextet With Eric Dolphy: "Cornell 1964" (Blue Note). Newly discovered, this is sheer gold -- historic performances by one of the very finest ensembles Mingus ever led. Best of all, there is extraordinary playing -- on alto saxophone, bass clarinet and flute -- from Dolphy, who died 12 weeks after the gig at age 36.
-DON HECKMAN
CHARLES MINGUS SEXTET WITH ERIC DOLPHY, CORNELL 1964 (Blue Note). This was, quite simply, one of the greatest aggregations of instrumental intensity ever to gather for one magical year. And this concert, which took place before the group's legendary (and, some might say, ill-fated) European tour, exhibits a high-spiritedness and keenness of interplay that exceeds even the recordings from that earlier tour.
Gene Seymour
CHARLES MINGUS SEXTET: ‘CORNELL 1964’ (Blue Note). A time capsule that reveals an irrepressible Mingus, on bass and vocals, propelling a short-lived band with both Eric Dolphy and Clifford Jordan on saxophones. Nothing, not even musty sound quality, can diminish the manic ebullience captured here.
NPR
Artist: Charles Mingus Sextet with Eric Dolphy
Album: Cornell 1964
The recently unearthed concert by Charles Mingus’ group featuring Eric Dolphy is similarly relevatory – it’s a lusty blowing-session blast from an aggregate that ranks among Mingus’ best. Anchored by the unshakeable drummer Dannie Richmond, this sextet barrels through everything from early piano jazz to the stemwinding wheedles of the avant-garde to a seventeen-minute throwdown on Billy Strayhorn’s theme for the Ellington Orchestra, “Take the A Train.” Dolphy was at his most peak in 1964 – he recorded his classic Out To Lunch the same year – and this band, with Mingus interjecting constantly, keeps up with the saxophonist’s every crazy detour.
Charles Mingus Sextet, “Cornell 1964” (Blue Note)—It’s tough to go wrong when it comes to live recordings of the Mingus band, especially the incarnation that featured the resident geniuses Eric Dolphy and Jaki Byard, as well as the underappreciated Johnny Coles and Clifford Jordan. Still, this newly unearthed concert is notable for the ebullience of its often irascible leader.
-Steve Futterman
On this frequently brilliant and warmly recorded concert from March 18, 1964, Charles Mingus reasserts his intense genius. His bass playing, sprightly yet forceful, fast yet tempered, is a wonder to behold. Yet it’s almost impossible to take your attention off everyone else. Jaki Byard, perhaps the most underappreciated pianist in the history of jazz, plays with a flourishing grace that feels like dancing on water. Dannie Richmond’s drumming pays attention to ride, hi-hat, snare, tom, and kick with equal focus, and provides an equal level of striking and skittering. Then there’s Clifford Jordan and Johnny Coles, whose sax and tumpet, respectively, blow and bleat with a tendentious ease usually reserved for Coltrane and Miles. Never mind that they have to play next to Eric Dolphy, whose work on the bass clarinet and flute are mind-blowing. And never mind that nobody knew this concert was recorded, nor that anyone but the people there even knew it existed.
-Tal Rosenberg
"...And that's a part of what made the sextet so special-- it was a band full of distinctive instrumentalists who together made something on the borderline of magic. This set captures them at their finest, still caught in the adventure of learning, but sure enough to make every note count."
Newport Showcases The Many Sides Of Jazz
By CHUCK OBUCHOWSKI
"....One of the septet's most captivating soloists was young tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery, a New Haven native and University of Hartford grad. The rising star also contributed significantly to a performance by The Mingus Orchestra, conducted by Gunther Schuller.
This unique salute focused on rarely performed Charles Mingus compositions with particularly complex structures. The Schuller's well-rehearsed 10-member orchestra not only brought these difficult charts to life but did so with such passion and conviction that this hour-long program became a musical highlight of Saturday's festival.
Bassoonist Michael Rabinowitz and hornist John Clark were among the outstanding soloists in the ensemble, and the unique instrumentation of the orchestra - which also included Jack Wilkins on guitar and Douglas Yates on bass clarinet - added to the beauty of these pieces.
Included in the orchestra's set were two pieces written by the bassist/bandleader while he was still a teenager, as well as "Todo Modo," Mingus' last extended composition, written in 1976 as a film score......"
★ CHARLES MINGUS ORCHESTRA (Tuesday) The must-have jazz release of the summer is “Cornell 1964” (Blue Note), a new recording of a short-lived Charles Mingus sextet that was discovered not long ago by the bassist’s widow, Sue Mingus. This fine repertory orchestra, another byproduct of Ms. Mingus’s vigilant stewardship, will perform at least one song from the recording in this free outdoor concert. At 8 p.m., Washington Square Park, southeast quadrant, Greenwich Village, (212) 252-3621, washingtonsquaremusicfestival.org; free. (Chinen)
Tijuana Moods Reissued
Tue, Jul. 10 2007
SONY's reissue of Tijuana Moods was reviewed in the July issue of Paste Magazine, page 95.
Larry Blumenfeld's review of "Charles Mingus Sextet With Eric Dolphy: Cornell 1964" appeared on the Reuters newswire today! CD release date is July 17, 2007.
Charles Mingus has been nominated as a finalist for a 2007 Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Award in the category of: Jazz Reissue Of The Year, Single CD for "Music Written for Monterey 1965 Not Heard: At UCLA 1965."
This CD was released on SueMingusMusic/Sunnyside Records in September of 2006 and made numerous critics "best of" lists.
Members of the JJA are currently voting on these nominees and others in 41 categories celebrating excellence in jazz music, production, presentation and print, broadcast and photographic journalism. For information on previous Jazz Awards, and to view complete list of this years nominees, go to
http://www.Jazzhouse.org website of the Jazz Journalists Association.
The 11th annual JJA Awards winners will be announced the last week of June.
FREE Summer Concerts in NYC
Tue, Jun. 5 2007
All three Mingus ensembles will perform free concerts in New York this summer:
Mingus Dynasty
Wednesday, June 27 at Madison Square Park
7:00 p.m.
Mingus Orchestra
Tuesday, July 31 at Washington Square Park
8:00 p.m.
The Mingus Big Band and Mingus Orchestra conducted by Gunther Schuller
Damrosch Park Bandshell
Lincoln Center Out of Doors
8:00 p.m.
See you there!
Sue Mingus @ Brooklyn Public Library Thursday
Tue, Jun. 5 2007
The Brooklyn Public Library's (BPL) annual Summer Reading Program kicks off on Thursday, June 7 at Central Library with "A Jazzy Summer Reading" featuring readings of autobiographies. Musician and jazz composer Paquito D'Rivera reads from his autobiography, A Sax Life, and Sue Mingus, widow of legendary composer, bassist and bandleader, Charles Mingus, reads from her memoir, Tonight at Noon: A Love Story, which was a New York Times Notable Book and a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year.
Location: Central Library, Grand Army Plaza, Second Floor Meeting Room. www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org
www.mingusmingusmingus.com
Review of Mingus Big Band at Bath:
"From the first unaccompanied notes of Lauren Sevian’s baritone saxophone it was clear that the Mingus Big Band was in powerful, energetic form, both as the highlight of this year’s Jazz Weekend at the Bath International Music Festival and at the midpoint of their current British tour.
Once Sevian’s growling sax established a crisp ostinato, the band roared in behind her, willing the audience to be swept along in the tide of its commitment to Charles Mingus’s music. His composition Moanin’ included an extended solo from Sevian, and also a brilliant trumpet outing for Ryan Kisor, with a repetitive choppy descending phrase that corkscrewed through the valves against the pounding rhythm of the band.
...
His closing trio piece, Duke Ellington’s Sound of Love, with Kozlov bowing high into the cello register, showed that the band is not all bombast and derring-do, but is also capable of the melancholy reflection that was also an integral part of Mingus’s musical world.
...
Excerpts from [Epitaph], notably Children’s Hour Dream, showing the range of Mingus’s writing, from Stravinsky-like voicings to jagged jazzy chording, were the most powerful pieces by what is currently the world’s most on-form jazz big band. If it is this good in concert, it’ll blow the roof off Ronnie Scott’s club when it winds up there tonight."
Though Charles Mingus long has been revered as a fearlessly iconoclastic musician, listeners cannot take his full measure until they've heard his "Epitaph."
....
To hear "Epitaph" in its entirety, in a single evening, is to re-evaluate Mingus' stature as composer and innovator.
For though Mingus remains justly admired for tunes such as "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," the scale of his ambition and breadth of his achievement in "Epitaph" place him at the pinnacle of American composition. For starters, several movements in "Epitaph" are so daringly conceived and eloquently articulated that they stand on their own as brilliantly realized works.
The highlight of this Symphony Center jazz season occurred Friday evening: Charles Mingus' "Epitaph," played by a 31-piece band conducted by Gunther Schuller. Mingus intended this 2½-hour composition to be monumental, and it surely was. Its many contrary, simultaneous events approached Charles Ives' wildest creations, while its harmonic richness and variety of sonic effects approached Duke Ellington, and it included enough melodies to stuff several Mahler symphonies.
Yet "Epitaph" turns out to be a perfect title since it defines Mingus as an original synthesis of the past, present and future of music -- reaching out to the radical avant-garde with wandering dissonances worthy of Charles Ives; looking back to gospel, Jelly Roll Morton, Vernon Duke, bebop, Mingus's own greatest hits ("Better Get It In Your Soul"), and above all, Ellington. The screaming sonorities in the brass recall Stan Kenton and hardly anyone else in jazz, and Mingus took Ellington's use of plunger-mutes to new vistas of wild expression. There are solo opportunities for strangers to jazz like the oboe and bassoon (the latter wielded brilliantly by Michael Rabinowitz in "Wolverine Blues").
..."To me, regardless of what instrument he played, Mingus was one of the great jazz artists," McBride says. "And I'm going to have his music featured as long as I'm around to do anything about it."
For Schuller and Sue Mingus, the performances are a culmination of years of work and dedication.
"There's no telling how Charles would have done this, if he were here," says Mingus. "It would have been different, I'm sure. Probably different every night. He never looked back."
And that capacity for constant change and variation, believes Schuller, is part of the great, unpredictable beauty of "Epitaph" in performance.
"This work covers every possible kind of mood and character and expression that one can have in music," says Schuller. "It's a summary kind of work. And it reflects exactly the complexity of Mingus as a person. He was as gentle as a baby at times. At the other end of the spectrum, he could be as violent as a volcano. And it's all in 'Epitaph.' "
A composition that, as it turns out, might more accurately be titled "Legacy."
"This is one of the great pieces in the history of jazz," Schuller says. "Nobody else wrote a 19-movement piece lasting 2½ hours and ranging from simple blues to the most extravagantly complex Ivesian or Stravinksian kind of music. Not even Ellington did anything this ambitious."
Top live show
Charles Mingus’s Epitaph conducted by Gunther Schuller
Rose Theater; Wed 25
It seems bizarre to think of Charles Mingus as an unsung composer, but that’s precisely what he was in his lifetime. The bassist’s outsize ambitions were evident as early as the ’50s—see the extended work “Pithecanthropus Erectus”—but several of his more public career pitfalls are proof that imagining expansive music is one thing, getting it properly written down and performed is something else entirely. Epitaph, an epic score that didn’t premiere until a full decade after Mingus’s death in 1979, is a prime example: He’d shelved it after performing sections at the infamously messy (and recorded) Town Hall concert in 1962, but when Mingus’s widow, Sue, discovered the manuscript in the ’80s, she was astonished to find upwards of 500 pages.
Famed music scholar Gunther Schuller was given the task of streamlining Epitaph for consumption in 1989; he’s on hand again for the flagship concert in this week’s celebration of the 85th anniversary of Mingus’s birth. It’ll be interesting to compare sections with music performed by any one of the Mingus repertory groups at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola this week. The Mingus Dynasty (Sun 22), a septet, is closest to the classic bands that the bassist led in his lifetime, while the Mingus Orchestra (Thu 19) adds muted symphonic colors to the mix. The beefy, popular Mingus Big Band (Fri 20, Sat 21) has long been a nightlife institution. Schuller’s 30-piece ensemble will try to bring it all together. — K. Leander Williams
On April 27, composer/arranger/conductor Gunther Schuller will lead the New York-based Epitaph Orchestra through Mingus' most ambitious work, the 130-minute Epitaph. Assembled from notes and scores found after the composer's death in 1979, the piece, written for a 30-piece group, incorporates the many sides of Mingus, mixing sections of through-composed music with plenty of space for improvisation as well as familiar tunes, including Better Git It In Your Soul and Peggy's Blue Skylight.
Any concertgoers expecting two hours of stuffed-shirt, ``serious music'' will be disappointed, because the 18-part suite is filled with the boisterous, lively spirit and sense of freedom that imbued all of Mingus' music. The concert is also special because it is one of only four the Mingus Epitaph Orchestra is scheduled to perform this year.
Bill Cosby To Host Epitaph
Tue, Apr. 10 2007
Bill Cosby will host the New York premiere of Epitaph at Lincoln Center on April 25th. Cosby originally hosted Mingus's “comeback concert” at Carnegie Hall in 1972. (A recording, Charles Mingus & Friends in Concert, was made of the concert for 22 musicians). A life-long jazz fan and supporter, Cosby featured Mingus music in his series, "The Cosby Mysteries."
Mingus Birthday Broadcasts
Sunday, Apr. 22 2007
In honor of Charles Mingus's birthday - April 22 - jazz radio stations throughout the country are playing Mingus music. Check your local listings! Highlights include:
- WKCR (88.9FM) in New York: 24 hours of Mingus music, part of the station's Birthday Broadcast tradition. 12AM through 12PM. Primarily hosted by Phil Schaap. - Sirius Satellite Radio: Pure Jazz (Channel 72)celebrates the birth of Mingus with a day of music curated by Sue Mingus. Every hour Sirius will play a Mingus tune chosen by Sue, who will discuss each one. Starting at 10AM EST.
- XM Satellite Radio: Real Jazz (Channel XM 70) plays Mingus music every other hour from 8AM to 8PM EST
Mingus Dynasty Tonight-March 22-at the Cutting Room NYC. $15
The Cutting Room 19 West 24th Street between Broadway and 6th Avenue on the north side of the street.
Two sets 9 & 11.
With:
Orrin Evans, Alex Sipiagin, Wayne Escoffrey, Andy Hunter, Boris Kozlov, Johnathan Blake, Craig Handy
In the March issue of Bon Appetit columnist Eric Steinman includes Mingus's Atlantic box set, Passions of a Man in his playlist of "music to cook by." The box set, which runs a total of five hours, 27 minutes, is best, writes Steinman, for braising meat.
"Braising meat is all about the subtle manipulation of heat and time. This boxed set is a library of captivating jazz masterpieces to play throughout the day."
The list, which also includes Bob Dylan, Kronos Quartet and Missy Elliot, can be viewed at http://www.epicurious.com/bonappetit/features/music_playlist
"Charles Mingus’s legacy is in fantastic shape thanks to the Mingus Big Band, a ghost orchestra that continues to remind audiences how much his robust music picked up speed when he arrived from the West Coast in the mid-’50s."
Mingus music opens VU fest
February 14, 2007
By DIANE KRIEGER SPIVAK Post-Tribune
Known to many as the best jazz orchestra in the world, the Mingus Big Band will headline the 22nd annual Valparaiso University Jazz Fest this spring.
The band, which highlights the work of musician and composer Charles Mingus, will culminate the week-long festival with performances at 7 and 9:30 p.m. April 14.
Music Written For Monterey 1965 Not Heard...
Played In Its Entirety At UCLA
2 CD Set / SSC3041
Released 40 years ago but unavailable on CD until
today, the title immediately announces the trials and tribulations that
led to this extraordinary concert, summing up its original intent "music
written for Monterey"), the failure of that event ("not played') and the
triumphant closing chapter ("performed at UCLA') which premiered a
large body of compositions Mingus had been working on all year for the
Monterey Jazz Festival, that found its true audience at a college concert
the following week.
Thirty years ago, in late December, 1976, Charles
Mingus performed a series of concerts in Tokyo with his quintet. In 2005,
also in December, another Mingus band rounded out a week at Tokyo's
famous Blue Note Club with a live recording on New Year's Eve. Trumpet
player Jack Walrath was on hand for borth events, linking past and
present. The current 14-piece ensemble, the Mingus Big Band, is the legacy group that carries Mingus's
voice into the future.
"Rewarding genuine rarity over lavish repackaging, the Circle voted Charles Mingus's unruly but worth-it Live at UCLA (CME/Sunnyside) the year's best reissue."
27 years ago today, at the age of 56, Charles Mingus passed away in Cuernevaca, Mexico. Not far away, "fifty-six sperm whales swam through the shallow coastal water of Baja in northwest Mexico, landed like a monstrous tidal wave, and perished on the beach....The following day, Mingus and the whales were consumed by fire: Mingus inside a crematorium on the outskirts of Mexico City and the whales in funeral pyres along the coast." (from Tonight at Noon by Sue Mingus)
New York, NY: On New Year's Eve The Mingus Dynasty with special guest vocalist Renee Manning will perform at one of New York's finest restaurants, Per Se, in the Time Warner Building overlooking Columbus Circle and Central Park. For reservations, please call 212-823-9335.
JazzUkes, of Ukulele Noir, plays Goodbye Pork Pie Hat on Ukulele
Take the giant steps: Hitting a jazz club makes New York sound memorable
By David French, Globe Correspondent | December 10, 2006
Tuesdays here are perhaps the best regular night of jazz in New York. The Mingus Big Band rocks the house with Charles Mingus's uproarious, soulful, swinging compositions. Iridium is near Times Square, a short walk from many midtown hotels, and books some of the best musicians in the world.
Big Friendly Jazz Orchestra (Takasago High School Jazz Band), played Mingus at Japan Student Jazz Festival 2006.
Last week at Merkin Hall, the Mingus Orchestra with Gunther Schuller inspired two standing ovations and gave Merkin their first encore of their season! Everyone present agreed that the music was magical and marvelously executed! The Mingus Orchestra goes conductor-less TONIGHT at Iridium. This may be the last chance to catch them for several weeks as we bring the Mingus Big Band and the Dynasty into rotation for the holidays.
Three French awards for new release "Music Written For Monterey 1965 Not Heard...Played In Its Entirety At UCLA"
Tue, Dec. 5 2006
Music Written For Monterey 1965 Not Heard...
Played In Its Entirety At UCLA
Choc of Jazzman magazine
Prix Django Reinhardt
Prix de l'Academie du Jazz
Archive from NOVEMBER 27
Gore Vidal talks about his new memoir, "Point-to-Point Navigation" in an interview in early November at WBAI; Sue Mingus previews an upcoming concert of the Mingus Orchestra performing Gunther Schuller's arrangements of Mingus's "Noon Night," "Half Mast Inhibition," and "Taurus in the Arena of Life." Hosted by Janet Coleman and David Dozer.
Sue Mingus starts at 45 minutes. Podcast
Tuesday, Dec 5th 9:00 pm Music of Charles Mingus, directed by Andy McKee
Mingus Big Band bassist Andy McKee leads students in a Mingus program.
The New School
55 West 13th St., Fifth Floor
Gunther Schuller's Many Musical Hats
Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, author, and scholar Gunther Schuller talks about his remarkable six-decade-long career in music--including his new arrangement of a work by Charles Mingus.
You can also download it as mp3.
"Mingus Lives: there are no fewer than three legacy bands...
each is represented on "I Am Three," a rousing album issued last year...and they all take turns holding down a Tuesday night engagement at the Iridium Jazz Club. And on Thursday at Merkin Hall, the upstart of the bunch-the Mingus Orchestra, a 10-piece chamber ensemble complete with French horn and bassoon - will come under the figurative baton of Gunther Schuller..... The evening should present an intriguing argument about Mingus the composer, through the prism of the Third Stream jazz-classical hybrid that Mr. Schuller has promulgated over the years." Nate Chinen New York Times
November 30th GUNTHER SCHULLER conducts THE MINGUS ORCHESTRA at Merkin Hall: 81st Birthday Celebration. Be sure to check out a full 40-minute interview with Gunther Schuller on WNYC’S "Leonard Lopate Show" on Thursday, 11/30 at 1pm-2pm. 93.9fm/am 820
A 15-foot stainless steel sculpture by the artist Hans Van de Bovenkamp is on exhibit at the Yellow Bird Gallery in Newburgh, New York through November 12th. The artist titled the work, which was completed in 2005, "Ode to Charles Mingus."
For an image, visit the Yellow Bird Gallery's website.
A Massing of Mingus - The Live Music Report by Dave Barnes. Charles Mingus remains with us in substance and style through the ensembles that carry forward his musical legacy. The 14-piece Mingus Big Band featured at the Toronto Jazz Festival is based in New York City and gets to pick the very best of local musicians, some 40 in all that rotate through the chairs to keep the momentum.
Opening with a rousing version of "E's Flat, Ah's Flat Too" we wasted no time in launching into some serious and extended solos. First up was Lauren Sevian giving us a blistering baritone sax solo taking time to dip into the delicious lower register of this instrument. No chance to breathe because trombonist Ku-umba Frank Lacy is front and centre with an attack, energy and invention that has to be seen to be believed. It is hard to believe that a trombone slide can be manipulated that fast. Alex Sipiagin on trumpet immediately took control and led us to unexpected territory spun out of thin air. George Colligan's forceful and authoritative piano gave over to a ferociously fast journey around the drum kit with Johnathan Blake. A few minutes into the set and already you had to have your wits about you to follow the action....
The August 2006 issue of Bass Player magazine features an article about Mingus's famous "Lion's head" bass, and has plenty of fine things to say about the Mingus Big Band and "I Am Three," as well as a brief history of the instrument, which was made in Germany in the 1920s. Check out the full story at Bass Player Magazine:
The current keepers of the historic Impulse! catalog have released numerous single- disc compilations of its greatest artists, among them Charles Mingus, to coincide with Ashley Kahn's book, "The House That Trane Built" (Norton), a new book about the ascension of the jazz record label.
The Mingus compilation is a well thought-out sampler of the bassist-composer-bandleader's tenure with the label - The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady, Mingus Plays Piano, and Pre-Bird, to name just three - were recorded for Impulse!.
There's also a four-CD "soundtrack" to the book of the same name - on that, only one Mingus track appears - "Theme For Lester Young," off the Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus recording.
Concert Review: Toronto Star
Fri, Jun. 30 2006
Mingus Big Band Live at Nathan Philips Square
June 24, 2006
The 14-piece Mingus Big Band ran through a six pack that pretty much covered the tempestuous bassist's major stylistic twists and turns.
Beginning with a superb rendition of "E's Flat and Ah's Flat Too," a driving hard-bop blues, the band moved into the modal, rhythmically shifting jazz waltz "Meditations." A faithful reading of "Baby Take a Chance with Me" followed, featuring the soulful vocal work of trombonist Ku-umba Frank Lacy.
Equally strong were the squeaking, squawking "Birdcalls," which Mingus wrote for Charlie Parker, and "Sweet Sucker Dance," featuring the work of tenorman, Seamus Blake, the band's lone Canadian.
But the high point was the finale, "Haitian Fight Song," the polyrhythmic Mingus signature built on a simple four-note bass line and double-tongued, double-triplet trombone melody, and featuring some of the most unusual sounds - but appropriate - ever coaxed from a tuba.
Complex, multidimensional compositions from a complex, multidimensional artist who seems only now to be getting the recognition he deserved before he died in 1979.
- Robert Wright, Toronto Star
The UK-newspaper The Observer's monthly OMM (Observer Music Monthly) lists its top 50 music books of all time, and Charles Mingus's Beneath the Underdog is voted #9. Canongate publishes the edition in the UK, and here in the states, Vintage.
Senator Hagel, Jazz Fan
Fri, Jun. 9 2006
According to an article appearing in yesterday's Financial Times of London, Chuck Hagel, senator from Nebraska, invoked the words of "jazz bassist Charlie Mingus" when he launched a recent Senate banking committee hearing into the role of hedge funds in the US economy.
"Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple - awesomely simple - that's creativity," he quoted Mingus as saying. Then he added some words of his own: "Suffice it to say, we're looking for creativity from our witnesses today".
The Senator from Nebraska isn't the first to invoke that particular quote.
Costello-McPartland at Tanglewood
Fri, May. 5 2006
The Boston Symphony Orchestra announced the addition of Elvis Costello to the 2006 Tanglewood Jazz Festival line-up. Costello will be the special guest of Marian McPartland for a live taping of her NPR program, “Piano Jazz." McPartland and Costello will perform Saturday, September 2, at 3:00 pm at Ozawa Hall. According to Costello, duo will perform the Mingus ballad "Self-Portrait in Three Colors."
The Mingus Big Band was nominated in the Best Big Band category by the Jazz Journalists Association. The 10th annual Jazz Journalists Awards will be held on June 19 at B.B. King's Club.
In other categories, two MBB members were nominated in their respective instrumental categories: Ronnie Cuber (baritone saxophone) and Conrad Herwig (trombone).
Mary Harron's new film (released April 2006) about the life of risque pinup model Bettie Page (starring Gretchen Mol) is packed with musical gems - including Charles Mingus's "Love Chant." The tune was originally released on 1956's Atlantic recording Pithecanterous Erectus, and is now included on the CD soundtrack, along with tracks by Julie London, Patsy Cline, Jeri Southern, Esquival, Artie Shaw, Art Pepper and Hank Ballard.
Dynasty on Location: Mexico City & Cuernavaca
Fri, May. 5 2006
Documentary filmmaker Regis Trigano ("Arakimentary" and "Strange Fruit") will film the Mingus Dynasty performing concerts in Mexico City and in Cuernavaca, June 8 - 12, as well as scenes from Sue Mingus's memoir, "Tonight at Noon," which take place in Mexico. Trigano is currently working on a film about Sue Mingus and the Mingus repertory bands.
Makor 's Jazz On Film series during this year's JVC Jazz Festival includes screenings of "Mingus"(1968) Directed by Thomas Reichman (58 minutes) and "Other Voices - The Meditations of Charles Mingus " (1964) - footage provided courtesy of the CBC (29 minutes).
Andrew Homzy, professor of Jazz Studies at Concordia University and author of the book "More Than a Fakebook: The Music Of Charles Mingus," will introduce the films, and there will be a post-screening discussion with Sue Mingus.
Showtime is 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $15. Makor is located at 35 West 67th St., New York.
Purchase Information
Call: Makor Charge 212-601-1000
In person at: Steinhardt Building
35 West 67th St.
Hours: Mon-Thu 9am-10pm, Fri 9am-5pm, Sat 7pm-12am (event nights only), Sun 9am-10pm.
Elvis Costello's new album, "My Flame Burns Blue," released earlier this spring on Universal with the Metropole Orchestra, opens with a lively performance of Charles Mingus's "Hora Decubitus." Costello put lyrics to the tune when he first performed with the Charles Mingus Orchestra in 2001. The eclectic set includes new material to Costello as well as reinterpretations of his classics like "Almost Blue," "Watching the Detectives" and "Clubland" - the latter arranged by Sy Johnson. (Johnson also arranged "Almost Ideal Eyes"). Elvis will perform with the Metropole Orchestra on Friday, May 12 at BAM.
In a review entitled "Touched by Fire," Washington Post book reviewer Sara Sklaroff discusses Jeffrey A. Kottler's new book, "Divine Madness - Ten Stories of Creative Struggle" -- a book concerned with "the fine line between genius and madness." Among other 20th and 2lst century artists, she says, the portrait of Charles MIngus, was "one of the most gripping." Publisher: Jossey-Bass. 311 pp. $24.95
On June 23 and 24, Sue Mingus and Boris Koslov will visit with Tina Marsh and the Creative Opportunity Orchestra in Austin, Texas. CreOp, as the outfit is called, formed in 1980 by a group of professional musicians to perform original jazz and improvisational music in a large-band format. They will perform a concert of Mingus Music, with several arrangements by Boris Koslov. In a related event, Sue Mingus will read from her memoir, "Tonight at Noon." Check back for more information on times and locations.
Mingus Birthday Broadcasts
Sat, Apr. 22 2006
In honor of Charles Mingus's birthday - April 22 - jazz radio stations throughout the country are playing Mingus music. Check your local listings!
Highlights include:
- WKCR (88.9FM) in New York: 24 hours of Mingus music, part of the station's Birthday Broadcast tradition. 12AM through 12PM. Primarily hosted by Phil Schaap.
- XM Satellite Radio: Real Jazz (Channel XM 70) plays Mingus music every other hour from 8AM to 8PM EST.
- Sirius Satellite Radio: Pure Jazz (Channel 72) celebrates the birth of Mingus with a day of music curated by Sue Mingus. Every hour Sirius will play a Mingus tune chosen by Sue, who will discuss each one. Starting at 10AM EST.
