Frogtoon Music

Epitaph (Album) by Charles Mingus

Artist Biography For Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus 22nd April 1922 – 5th January 1979 Was An American Jazz Bassist Composer Bandleader And Occasional Pianist From Los Angeles. He Was Also Known For His Activism Against Racial Injustice. Mingus' Legacy Is Notable He Is Ranked Among The Finest Composers And Performers In Jazz And Recorded Many Highly Regarded Albums. Dozens Of Musicians Passed Through His Bands And Later Went On To Impressive Careers. His Songs - Though Melodic And Distinctive - Are Not Often Recorded By Later Musicians Due In Part To Their Unconventional Nature. Mingus Was Also Influential And Creative As A Bandleader Recruiting Talented And Sometimes Little-Known Artists Whom He Assembled Into Unconventional And Revealing Configurations. Nearly As Well Known As His Ambitious Music Was Mingus' Often Fearsome Temperament Which Earned Him The Nickname "The Angry Man Of Jazz". His Refusal To Compromise His Musical Integrity Led To Many Onstage Explosions Though It Has Been Argued That His Temper Also Grew From A Need To Vent Frustration. Ironically A Perfect Show Could Irritate Him By Closing This Outlet. Mingus Was Prone To Depression. He Tended To Have Brief Periods Of Extreme Creative Activity Intermixed With Fairly Long Periods Of Greatly Decreased Output. Most Of Mingus's Music Retained The Hot And Soulful Feel Of Hard Bop And Drew Heavily From Black Gospel Music While Sometimes Drawing On Elements Of Third Stream Jazz And Free Jazz. Yet Mingus Avoided Categorization Forging His Own Brand Of Music That Fused Tradition With Unique And Unexplored Realms Of Jazz. Mingus Focused On Collective Improvisation Similar To The Old New Orleans Jazz Parades Paying Particular Attention To How Each Band Member Interacted With The Group As A Whole. In Creating His Bands Mingus Looked Not Only At The Skills Of The Available Musicians But Also Their Personalities. He Strived To Create Unique Music To Be Played By Unique Musicians. Due To His Brilliant Writing For Mid-Size Ensembles - And His Catering To And Emphasising The Strengths Of The Musicians In His Groups - Mingus Is Often Considered The Heir Apparent To Duke Ellington For Whom He Expressed Unqualified Admiration. By The Mid-1970s Mingus Was Suffering From Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ALS . Mingus Died Aged 56 In Cuernavaca Mexico Where He Had Traveled For Treatment And Convalescence. His Ashes Were Scattered In The Ganges River.

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Frogtoon Music Album Info: Epitaph

Epitaph Is A Composition By Jazz Musician Charles Mingus. It Takes More Than Two Hours To Perform And Was Only Completely Discovered During The Cataloguing Process After His Death. With The Help Of A Grant From The Ford Foundation The Score And Instrumental Parts Were Copied And The Piece Itself Was Premiered By A 30-Piece Orchestra Conducted By Gunther Schuller. This Concert Was Produced By Mingus' Widow Sue At Alice Tully Hall On June 3 1989 Ten Years After His Death.
The New Yorker Wrote That Epitaph Represents The First Advance In Jazz Composition Since Duke Ellington's Black Brown And Beige Which Was Written In 1943. The New York Times Said It Ranked With The "most Memorable Jazz Events Of The Decade". Convinced That It Would Never Be Performed In His Lifetime Mingus Called His Work Epitaph Declaring That He Wrote It "for My Tombstone." Musicologist/conductor Gunther Schuller Discovered And Restored This Massive 130-Minute Work By The Late Bassist Then Presented It In Concert In New York In 1989. Scored For 30-Piece Jazz Orchestra Epitaph Is Thought By Schuller To Have Been Worked On Between 1940 And 1962. Amazingly Enough Six Of The Players Specified In The Score Appear On This Recording. Some Of The Sections Are Familiar To Charles Mingus Fans From Small-Band Recordings Particularly "Better Get It In Your Soul " "Monk Bunk & Vice Versa Osmotin' " And "Peggy's Blue Skylight " And There Was An Attempt To Record This Work For United Artists In 1962. Schuller Makes A Case For This Work As A Unified 18-Movement Work In His Extensive Notes To This Set. There Is Definite Evidence That This Is How Mingus Himself Thought Of It As Well. There Is Plenty Of Great Big-Band Writing Here And Some Fine Soloists Notably Bobby Watson Randy Brecker George Adams And Wynton Marsalis. Schuller Says It Best In His Notes "This Recording While Not The Perfect Realization Of Epitaph — Can That Ever Be Achieved? — Is An Enthusiastic Dedicated Loving Recreation Which Now At Last Brings Mingus' Magnum Opus To Life." With Luck This Release Will Send People Back To His Many Excellent Recordings.