Charles Mingus - Epitaph

Charles Mingus was considered a genius and  "angry man" of jazz, a highly talented musician who was denied the opportunity to study classical cello because of his skin colour. In the 1940's, only jazz was open to him. "Epitaph" was a series of 20 expansive pieces lasting over two hours: the inadequately prepared premiere in 1961 was a failure. It was only when the composer Gunter Schuller revised it in 1989 from Paris and sketches he had left behind that a realisable score emerged. 

Under the direction of Titus Engel, the musicians of the Big Band and the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper and the Jazz institute Berlin played these expressive worlds with unbridled enthusiasm and remarkable clarity.