Charles Mingus: Epitaph

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Even a hundred years after his birth, Charles Mingus is still labelled as an artistic genius and the "angry man" of jazz, an uncompromising fighter against racial segregation and for unconditional truthfulness in his music, but who was also mentally unstable, could not control his emotions and often became violent enough in his anger. This image is confirmed by the circumstances of the world premiere of Mingus' "opus magnum", the two-hour suite "Epitaph" on 12 October 1962 in New York's Town Hall, which has long since become a myth in jazz history. Due to the short notice and rehearsal period, the performance itself fell short of the composer's artistic standards. As a result, Mingus asked the audience to leave the hall during the interval and offered to refund their entrance fee, which led to riots in the street outside the concert hall and ultimately forced the police to intervene. After that, Charles Mingus abandoned the attempt to realize "Epitaph" and it was not until the mid-1980s, after the musicologist Andrew Homzy discovered the music notes of the piece in Mingus' estate and, together with Gunther Schuller reconstructed it, that this masterpiece was premièred in 1989. At the finale of the "Musikfest Berlin" 2022, the musicians of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and their BigBand performed "Epitaph" as a tribute to the 100th birthday of Charles Mingus. Under the energetic baton of Titus Engel, the musicians of the BigBand and the Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Jazzinstitut Berlin explore the realms of expression of dark threat, profound songfulness, conflict and ecstasy with irrepressible joy of playing and remarkable clarity. Star trumpeter Randy Brecker let's his wonderfully clear tone clear tone soar to the highest heights.

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