Customer Reviews

Epitaph

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The first time I heard this music, I knew it was something special, out of the ordinary. These are the great compositions that Mingus left after his death to be played as his "epitaph," and they are complex and challenging to the listener.

Gunther Schuller does a superb job of conducting this complex score and capturing a true Mingus feeling despite the leader's unavoidable absence. If you compare the original Town Hall performances of these works, conducted by Mingus himself, to these recreations, you will be amazed by how similar they are in feel, tempo and texture, though these are recorded digitally.

"Epitaph" is more than a collection of pieces, it is a massive concert score in its own right. I strongly recommend that, if you are new to Mingus, that you move into this set slowly by sampling some of his own earlier recordings, but I guarantee that you won't be disappointed.

Was at the 1962 Town Hall concert when he first let us hear some of this...in between walk outs where he just stormed out and an hour or so later came back...and no one in the audience left for all those hours. If we're smart, we give genius whatever room it needs since there's so little of it around in anyone's lifetime. Much of this great man of music is caught by another great musician/musicologist Gunter Schiller and a few good men like Wynton Marsalis and many other 'notables' who woulda given their year's pay just to be there...playing at this tribute...and here he is again...not 'back from the dead'..but proving he never died. Charles Mingus will always live. This 'Epitaph' title is about as serious a title as his 'Eat That Chicken' and he woulda laughed at it. 'Epitaph my a-s' he probably said..through all that thunder and lightening that struck over Wolf Trap the first time this great reconstructed collection was played in public...with his wife in the audience hearing both the thunder in the music and the thunder in the sky... knowing it was all from the same source. Buy this...listen to it..then get mingusmingusmingus and OH YEAH..and he'll live in you too. Play it all for your friends...and your kids. They'll all play it for their friends and their kids...they'll write their own reviews...and on he lives.

I saw Epitaph at Wolf Trap as the second performance following its resurrection. The lineup was spectacular and Mingus' widow and the (I'm working off memory) academic from Toronto who compiled the work from a trunk of numbered scoeres were both on hand. As the orchestra got into the work the winds kicked up and a cloudburst hit with lightning and thunder echoing around the venue. The ghost of Mingus was with us that night and is suffused throughout the score.
Buy this and play it loudly.

A recording conducted by Gunther Schuller in tribute to Charles Mingus. Lots of music in this two disc set, recorded by many great jazz players. The music is energetic and vibrant. Highly recommended.

Jazz still has a lot of catching up to do to Charlie and his music.

Charles Mingus was a musical genius and the best composer to come out of this country. People need to stop listening to music with blinders on. If you thought this was just noise I really feel sorrow that you could not see the passion, emotion, and beauty that made Mingus who he was!

This set is a good place for people who are first time mingus listeners. Though for those who are Mingus fans this may be a bit of a dissopointment, because of lack of energy and the edge that would have been there had Mingus been there himself. But overall it is a good set with a variety of songs that give a overall veiw of Mingus's work.

I have to agree with a music fan in New York that this album is missing the essential jazz element. It is jazz musicians playing a Mingus score. There is little improvisation or "fire in the belly." If you must have everything by Mingus don't let me stop you. But if you are checking him out for the first time there are many classic recordings that are more worthwhile.

3 1/2


Though there is something contradictory about playing these massively complex compositions without the master there to guide the proceedings himself, anyone who is familiar with this titan of song-craft knows exactly why this still had to be made.

this is a live recording, and therein lies the problem, an extraordinary composition conducted by gunther schuller at lincoln center, the recording marred by applause breaks, the concert ending with 40 seconds of applause included on the recording. to have been there in the hall that evening ... but i wasn't, so i want my own moment of listening joy.

one of the successes of the composition is the composition is a composition with little room for improvisation (though mr mingus left no finale which mr schuller and musicians remedied by improvision), so, hopefully, this recording isn't the last word, and like with other great compositions, compositionists ... let me pause here, an interjection is required. mr mingus, himself, never particularly like the label 'jazz', and epitaph is probably closer to modern concert music than to jazz, not to say that jazz forms and blues forms aren't included, so rather than quibble over whether this type of music is the product of a composer or an improviser, let us recognize what we hear as the amalgamation composed by mr mingus as something special, and he, who composed the work, as composer/improviser, what i refer to as a compositionist. ...and like with other great compositions, compositionists and conductors will choose to perform this work, some of them within a studio or in a hall without an audience.

i suspect wynton marsalis, who was one of the six trumpets at the live performance, was influenced by epitaph when he composed 'all rise'.

so until other recordings of epitaph become available (there are numerous jazz programs across the country educating a lot of jazz musicians, most of them with concert music credentials, so what i cite as a problem can be resolved and absorbed, in the future, as one of the many recordings of epitaph), and someone -- for those who feel this recording does not do mr mingus justice -- emerges as the interpreter of charles mingus' epitaph. and until that day comes, this is the epitaph available and, for now, certainly worth having, if you're a fan of charles mingus, if you like ornette coleman's skies over america, and if you like wynton marsalis' all rise.

some of the performers on this recording:

pepper adams, tenor saxophone
john hicks, piano
randy brecker, trumpet
wynton marsalis, trumpet
gary smulyan, clarinet and baritone saxophone
john abercrombie, guitar

Having studied Mingus, this is more than just a tribute album. This is really what is says; an Epitaph. There are Mingus compositions on this album that don't exist anywhere else, and this Epitaph project was meant to be the headstone for a man whose music reaches far and wide. This album is a dream he had recognized, only 10 years after his death. Well worth it.