Epitaph (Charles Mingus composition)
| Epitaph | |
|---|---|
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| Live album by Charles Mingus | |
| Released | 1990 |
| Recorded | 1989 |
| Genre | Jazz |
| Length | 127:22 |
| Label | Columbia |
| Producer | Sue Mingus, Gunther Schuller, John McClure |
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    |
Epitaph is a composition by jazz musician Charles Mingus. It is 4,235 measures long, 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 work itself was premiered by a 30-piece orchestra, conducted by Gunther Schuller and produced by Mingus's widow, Sue, at Alice Tully Hall on June 3, 1989, 10 years after his death, and issued as a live album. It was performed again at several concerts in 2007.
Accurately convinced that it would never be performed in his lifetime, Mingus called his work Epitaph declaring that it was written "for my tombstone."
There was one ill-fated attempt to record some of this during Mingus's lifetime, in New York City on October 12, 1962. The album The Complete Town Hall Concert (United Artists UAJ 14024) includes the tracks "Epitaph Pt. I" and "Epitaph Pt. II", as well as "Clark in the Dark", for trumpeter Clark Terry, who played in the band.
The musicians included:
Saxes and woodwinds
Trumpets
Trombones and tuba
Rhythm section
A review by Bill Coss appeared in the December 6, 1962 edition of Down Beat titled "A Report of a Most Remarkable Event", and was reprinted in the January 2005 edition.
The concert/recording was extremely disorganized. From the liner notes: "...this record represents a curious combination of open recording session and concert on a New York City Town Hall stage that held thirty musicians, two men still copying the music to be played, no play-back equipment, and a host of unbelievable tensions."
From Martin Williams's review: "The occasion was supposed to have been a public recording date, but the producers' announcements and ads somehow came out reading 'concert.' At one point during the proceedings, Mingus shouted to his audience, advising, 'Get your money back!'"
From the Coss article:
The microphone Mingus grabbed had no amplification, but what he said, more or less, was: "Get your money back. I couldn't stop you from coming here. The press agents lied to you. You've been taken advantage of. Go out now and get your money back. I don't want you to think I've done this to you. It was supposed to be a recording session, but Mr. George Wein, who is a fine promoter, changed it into a concert. So get your money back. The company has lots of money. It would take years to rehearse this music."
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Wikipedia