cviii. MINGUS, Charles: Epitaph

cviii. MINGUS, Charles (1922-1979)

Epitaph (1989)
1. Main Score, Pt. 1
2. Percussion Discussion
3. Main Score, Pt. 2
4. Started Melody
5. Better Get It In Your Soul
6. The Soul
7. Moods In Mambo
8. Self Portrait / Chill Of Death
9. O.P. (Oscar Pettiford)
10. Please Don't Come Back From The Moon
11. Monk, Bunk & Vice Versa (Osmotin')
12. Peggy's Blue Skylight
13. Wolverine Blues
14. The Children's Hour Of Dream
15. Ballad (In Other Words, I Am Three)
16. Freedom
17. Interlude (The Underdog Rising)
18. Noon Night
19. Main Score, Reprise
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, also saxophone, speech
Robert Rosenberg, piccolo, flute, clarinet, baritone saxophone
Gary Smulyan, clarinet, baritone saxophone
Bobby Watson, clarinet, flute, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone
Randy Brecker, trumpet
Wynton Marsalis, trumpet
Lew Soloff, trumpet
Jack Walrath, trumpet
Joe Wilder, trumpet
Snooky Young, trumpet
Eddie Bert, trombone
Sam Burtis, trombone
Urbie Green, trombone
David Taylor, trombone
Britt Woodman, trombone
Paul Faulise, bass trombone
Don Butterfield, tuba
Karl Berger, vibraphone, cowbell
John Abercrombie, guitar
Roland Hanna, piano
John Hicks, piano
Reggie Johnson, bass
Ed Schuller, bass, guiro
Victor Lewis, drums
Daniel Druckman, percussion, tumba
Gunther Schuller, cond.
(2:07:00)

Before his death in 1979, Mingus declared:

"Epitaph was written for my tombstone."

He must have said that before he decided to have his ashes scattered in the Ganges. (see Joni Mitchell's Mingus [1979] for this conversation and also some insight into the title of Part 15 [above] in the song A Chair in the Sky.)

Epitaph -- 4,235 measures long -- was basically discovered by the musicologist Andrew Homzy, during the cataloging process after Mingus died. Ten years later, Schuller was able to conduct a competent ensemble to record the entire thing.