Charles Mingus Epitaph (Humphrey Burton, 2008)

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 piece for jazz orchestra ever written.