The Jazz.com Blog
March 02, 2009 · 2 comments
Mingus Summit and Competition at MSM
The jazz economy is hurting, and hardly a day goes by without news of some festival or radio station or record label retrenching. So we need a dose of good news, and regular contributor arnold jay smith provides it below. Smith normally covers the OctoJAZZarian beat at jazz.com, but now he is on a youth kick. Here he reports on the Mingus Summit at the Manhattan School of Music and the spirited competition it hosted to showcase some enthusiastic next generation players. T.G.
Take heart jazz lovers; jazz will be saved! That is if Manhattan School of Music’s Mingus Summit has anything to say about it. The 3-day event, Feb. 20-22, included a panel with keynoter—and future OctoJAZZarian (he’s 83)—Gunther Schuller, plus three Mingus musicians and Sue Mingus, his widow. Sue has become an industry unto herself what with being the prime mover of the Mingus Dynasty, Mingus Big band and Mingus Orchestra.
The cavalcade of youth which was on display during the weekend was nothing short of heartening in their technical prowess as well as their knowledge and feeling of and for the music. It was a competition for small groups as well as big bands, and that is unfortunate as in these events there are really no losers. (Click here for a complete list of the winners.)
The Summit was conceived and organized by MSM’s Jazz Director–doesn’t that have a nice ring to it, “Jazz Director” of a college?—Justin DiCioccio and Ms. Mingus’s foundation “Let My Children Hear Music.” Sue Mingus called DiCioccio with the idea. “I suggested that we start small, tri-state perhaps,” DiCioccio said. “Then we decided we’d include the entire Northeast.”
The ideas kept coming and it was expanded. “As this was our first year why not a Mingus Summit with a panel and Mingus groups and band concerts added?” he asked. It morphed into the 3-day bash culminating with the competition on a blustery Sunday which didn’t develop into the wintry mix as predicted.
The opening keynote speaker, Schuller, was DiCioccio’s first choice. He came down from Boston Friday, returned to premiere a new piece with the Boston Symphony on Saturday—which, by the way, was favorably reviewed—then Acela-ed back to New York as a judge on Sunday. “It was Sue’s idea to have current band members participate in the panel discussions,” DiCioccio explained. Vincent Herring, Conrad Herwig and Andy McKee were asked. Herwig and Herring later doubled and tripled as judges and players.
“We decided that for the middle day we’d spotlight some of MSM’s young players in a Mingus small group setting with Steve Slagle conducting,” DiCioccio said.
The keynote speech as delivered by Schuller was an appraisal of his long-time friend’s music and life touching on the specifics of Mingus’s conception and delivery including the magnum opus Epitaph, which Schuller conducted in its premiere. Schuller also conducted Revelation at Mingus’s last public appearance at New York’s Cooper Union. A photo commemorating that event proudly adorns a wall in my home. The panel’s comments on working with the Maestro’s music ranged from joy and humor, to his roots in the sanctified church, to fear and trepidation of his reputation. Mingus could and did get violent on occasion, once famously knocking out Jimmy Knepper’s teeth, on stage. Happy ending: They later regained their friendship.
An event such as this needs seed money, more now than ever. “Basically, MSM supplied the upfront money for the event,” DiCioccio said. “In an agreement, Hal Leonard Publishing, which publishes all Mingus material, supplied the band and group parts.”
On that score (ouch), the participants chose from a basket of ten tunes, familiar and not so, to perform. So we got four versions of “Duke Ellington’s Sound of Love” and “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”; three versions of “Fables of Faubus,” “Sue’s Changes,” “Moanin’” and “Nostalgia in Times Square”; two interpretations of “Reincarnation of a Lovebird,” “O.P.,” “Pithecanthropus Erectus” and “Better Get Hit In Your Soul”; plus a plethora of one-time performances. There was enough Mingus to go around, twice. And let me tell ya, the music is not easily read or played. These youngsters were well-rehearsed. There were five finalists each in the small groups and big band categories plus the concert ensembles so the audience got something different each time.
Mingus Dynasty closed the concert with sparkling performances especially by pianist Helen Sung and tenor saxist Donny McCaslin, whose wife was expecting their first as he played. “The idea that Mingus’s music covers so many cultural aspects such as the church, the blues, happiness, style, concert music are reasons for my personal interest and lends itself to events such as these,” DiCioccio concluded. “It’s collage music; you can move it around. There’s freedom within the orchestrated parts as well as the improvised parts. You can juxtapose the two: improvise around the orchestrated parts, orchestrate the improvisations. And do not underestimate his beautiful melodies.” We both noted that there is so much more Mingus available that they are already planning for next year to include workshops master classes and jam sessions.
This blog entry posted by arnold jay smith
Tags:
Arnold Kodos to Justin & all those who made this tribute happen. They created a stage for our youth to reconize & respect another Giant of Jazz & his music. Thanks for your complete review.
The combination of honoring the history of the music but being open to interpretations by younger performers who want to add their own thing is so important. That's how jazz can remain not just alive but thriving throughout another century. (I'm sure Mingus would approve!) btw--heard Helen Sung playing with one of the current Mingus bands when they were at Iridium. She was wonderful.