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Article: Charles Mingus' monumental 'Epitaph' gets full treatment.
- Article from:
- Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL)
- Article date:
- May 21, 2007
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Byline: Howard Reich
May 21--Though Charles Mingus long has been revered as a fearlessly iconoclastic musician, listeners cannot take his full measure until they've heard his "Epitaph."
A monumental orchestral score that embraces jazz, classical, blues and sacred idioms, "Epitaph" received a disastrous New York premiere in 1962, then disappeared until long after the composer's death in 1979, at 52.
Chicago first heard an abbreviated, 80-minute version of the score at the Chicago Jazz Festival, in 1990. But it wasn't until Friday evening that the complete "Epitaph" -- in all its muscular, outsize glory -- was performed here, in Symphony Center. ...