On June 3rd, 1989, the Alice Tully Hall at New York's Lincoln Center was the venue for the world premiere performance of Charles Mingus' masterpiece "Epitaph". Conductor Gunther Schuller directed 30 musicians in what the New York Times described as "One of the most memorable jazz events of the decade". The piece had been discovered after Mingus' death in 1979 and painstakingly restored and copied. It is the largest and longest piece for jazz orchestra ever written and is now available here on DVD for the first time.
PERSONNEL
Conductor
Gunther Schuller
Woodwinds
George Adams (tenor saxophone)
Phil Bodner (oboe, English horn, clarinet, tenor saxophone)
John Handy (clarinet, alto saxophone)
Dale Kleps (flute, contrabass clarinet)
Michael Rabinowitz (bassoon, bass clarinet)
Jerome Richardson (clarinet, alto saxophone)
Roger Rosenberg (piccolo, flute, clarinet, baritone saxophone)
Gary Smulyan (clarinet, baritone saxophone)
Bobby Watson (clarinet, flute, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone)
