Mingus Orchestras Part I

The next few posts will briefly explore Charles Mingus and his writing for large ensembles. An iconoclast in all things, Mingus often worked with (and wrote for) ensembles that were larger and more diverse than the standard acoustic jazz quartet/quintet format: great examples of this are the octet format heard on Mingus Ah Um and the 11-piece outfit that performed The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady. And arrangements of Mingus for big band are performed and recorded today by the very illustrious Mingus Big Band.

But Charles Mingus had compositional concepts that extended beyond even mid-sized and standard big-band formats, with pieces that were written and arranged for large bands of 20 to 30 musicians, often including instruments that still remain exotic in the jazz context - bassoon, french horn, timpani.

So to kick off, here are two of my favourites from Mingus' sprawling Epitaph suite for 30 piece orchestra, assembled and performed for the first time in 1989, a decade after the composer's death. Moods in Mambo is entirely through-composed, without solos, and features a largely atonal composition overlaid on a mambo percussion section - sort of Schoenberg meets Eddie Palmieri. Wolverine Blues is a swaggering orchestral arrangement of Jelly Roll Morton's tune, and the undoubted highlight is Michael Rabinowitz blues solo on... bassoon ! Not to be missed.

Epitaph Orchestra - Moods in Mambo
Epitaph Orchestra - Wolverine Blues
From Charles Mingus Epitaph: Columbia 466631 [Buy]