(PLEASE go back to the post about Rollins and Jim Hall. I have added instructions about how you can hear those recordings in person at the New York Public Library in Manhattan.)
I followed your previous recommendation and waited until I had, in this case, 33 minutes and ten seconds " to spare, with nothing else to do" to listen to your interview with Gunther Schuller. Early in the interview, Schuller asserts that, after Ellington, Mingus is the most prolific composer in jazz with over 300 compositions. I had heard that number before but I had also heard that, unlike Ellington with over 2000 compositions to his name and Monk with maybe 84, Mingus has been rarely recorded by others. Is this true, and, if so, why?
I don't know if it's fair to say that Mingus tunes are "rarely" recorded, but certainly less than Duke and Monk tunes. Mingus is of course recorded by his own legacy bands, the Mingus Big Band etc. I think one big reason is in the essay recently posted by Stefano Zenni. Many Mingus pieces are not simply "tunes" to jam on--they are complex pieces with many sections and even tempo changes. For those pieces, only a group that regularly rehearses and performs them--like the Mingus Big Band--could record them. So that limits it greatly. THANK YOU PETER!
Thanks for this article, especially the info about "Epitaph" - I don't think I've ever heard how it was found.
I was one of the editors on what became a mad dash to the finish! Computer typography was in its infancy, and VERY slow and crashy. I was hired to do a few of the numbers, using a different program than the bulk of the score. (I was using Score, and a lot of it was done in Finale). And it was all 'sneakernet', which meant mad dashes to midtown (from NJ) to deliver a batch of completed parts. It was a learning experience.
Wow--what a story! Did you interface with Andrew Homzy or Gunther much? That's very exciting that you were involved in that crazy scene. You say "article" but I assume you listened to at least some of the audio, which is the point of this posting and which the short text merely introduces. THANK YOU ANTHONY
Not really. I was brought in right at the end - like the last 2-3 weeks. I would go to Paul Sadowski's office on 26th Street and get files, run back to New Brunswick and start working. I never met Gunther; Andrew may have been in on one of the meetings we had (which were mostly triage sessions!), but I can't recall.
The part extraction process did not work well on either Finale or Score. It would crash for no apparent reason. You'd have to restart the computer (DOS 3.1 - yay!) and then it would work. I remember having to make all sorts of edits to compensate for the program's fault - like measure numbers being incorrect. It was a lot slower than it is now, which is why Paul was so far behind on the work. I can't tell you how many people were involved, but we all cut our teeth on that gig.
I eventually got a job working with Paul, as the director of Score music production. Much less hectic - we did lots of music for John Cage, the Bernstein Estate (he died right before I started there), and a few others.
I, and I'm sure many others, really.appreciate this inside view of what was going on preparing for that Mingus concert. That's great that you worked with Paul Sadowsky--he was a leading music typesetter. I know that he was close with Cage partly because of their shared expertise in mushrooms! I think Paul was still teaching about mushrooms recently. THANK YOU ANTHONY
WONDERFUL interview. I've had a lot of other things on my plate and waited for quality time to absorb it. One thing that jumped out at me (but did not surprise me, because I've long been aware of it with many of my favorite musicians), is the breadth of their musical chops. It was this breadth that all of you -- Andrew, Gunther, and Lewis, and those musicians -- to recognize the musical tiger that you had by the tail. Andrew when he opened the box, and all of you when seeing what was in front of you. I'll look forward to more like this.
BTW -- my intro to Schuller was a Mercury LP that included his studies based on Paul Klee. I was just out of college -- that was in '64. I probably still have the LP -- the very good guy who bought my collections of 3,000 jazz LPs wasn't interested in the classical things.
Happy 100th Birthday to Gunther Schuller 🎹
Blessed
I followed your previous recommendation and waited until I had, in this case, 33 minutes and ten seconds " to spare, with nothing else to do" to listen to your interview with Gunther Schuller. Early in the interview, Schuller asserts that, after Ellington, Mingus is the most prolific composer in jazz with over 300 compositions. I had heard that number before but I had also heard that, unlike Ellington with over 2000 compositions to his name and Monk with maybe 84, Mingus has been rarely recorded by others. Is this true, and, if so, why?
I don't know if it's fair to say that Mingus tunes are "rarely" recorded, but certainly less than Duke and Monk tunes. Mingus is of course recorded by his own legacy bands, the Mingus Big Band etc. I think one big reason is in the essay recently posted by Stefano Zenni. Many Mingus pieces are not simply "tunes" to jam on--they are complex pieces with many sections and even tempo changes. For those pieces, only a group that regularly rehearses and performs them--like the Mingus Big Band--could record them. So that limits it greatly. THANK YOU PETER!
Thanks for this article, especially the info about "Epitaph" - I don't think I've ever heard how it was found.
I was one of the editors on what became a mad dash to the finish! Computer typography was in its infancy, and VERY slow and crashy. I was hired to do a few of the numbers, using a different program than the bulk of the score. (I was using Score, and a lot of it was done in Finale). And it was all 'sneakernet', which meant mad dashes to midtown (from NJ) to deliver a batch of completed parts. It was a learning experience.
Wow--what a story! Did you interface with Andrew Homzy or Gunther much? That's very exciting that you were involved in that crazy scene. You say "article" but I assume you listened to at least some of the audio, which is the point of this posting and which the short text merely introduces. THANK YOU ANTHONY
Not really. I was brought in right at the end - like the last 2-3 weeks. I would go to Paul Sadowski's office on 26th Street and get files, run back to New Brunswick and start working. I never met Gunther; Andrew may have been in on one of the meetings we had (which were mostly triage sessions!), but I can't recall.
The part extraction process did not work well on either Finale or Score. It would crash for no apparent reason. You'd have to restart the computer (DOS 3.1 - yay!) and then it would work. I remember having to make all sorts of edits to compensate for the program's fault - like measure numbers being incorrect. It was a lot slower than it is now, which is why Paul was so far behind on the work. I can't tell you how many people were involved, but we all cut our teeth on that gig.
I eventually got a job working with Paul, as the director of Score music production. Much less hectic - we did lots of music for John Cage, the Bernstein Estate (he died right before I started there), and a few others.
I, and I'm sure many others, really.appreciate this inside view of what was going on preparing for that Mingus concert. That's great that you worked with Paul Sadowsky--he was a leading music typesetter. I know that he was close with Cage partly because of their shared expertise in mushrooms! I think Paul was still teaching about mushrooms recently. THANK YOU ANTHONY
WONDERFUL interview. I've had a lot of other things on my plate and waited for quality time to absorb it. One thing that jumped out at me (but did not surprise me, because I've long been aware of it with many of my favorite musicians), is the breadth of their musical chops. It was this breadth that all of you -- Andrew, Gunther, and Lewis, and those musicians -- to recognize the musical tiger that you had by the tail. Andrew when he opened the box, and all of you when seeing what was in front of you. I'll look forward to more like this.
BTW -- my intro to Schuller was a Mercury LP that included his studies based on Paul Klee. I was just out of college -- that was in '64. I probably still have the LP -- the very good guy who bought my collections of 3,000 jazz LPs wasn't interested in the classical things.
Yes, the pieces inspired by Klee paintings were Gunther's most performed compositions. THANK YOU JIM!