The International Jazz Day initiated by Unesco takes place every year on April 30th. The Jazz Grafing association is taking part in this global event for the fifth time. People in over 190 countries around the world celebrate the universal importance of jazz at thousands of concerts and jazz events. In Germany, concerts take place in Berlin, Bremen, Hanover and many other cities, but also in Grafing.
The theme that Grafing has for this year’s International Jazz Day is “100 years of Charles Mingus”, because the composer and double bass player would have been 100 on April 22nd. Reason, then, to move his music back to the center of the jazz public. And it makes sense to fall back on the excellent and proven professional jazz musicians of the district and the entire world and that now Martin Zenkers Charles Mingus Ensemblean ensemble from the Munich Academy for Theater and Music, which will perform the opus “The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady” in the Grafingen City Library.
Since its recording, the work has been performed very seldom
Bringing the idea of ”The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady” to the stage was a great challenge for everyone involved. Since there was no sheet music, all parts were transcribed from the available recordings, set up and partly rearranged for this project. The masterpiece by Charles Mingus, which has been performed extremely seldom since its recording, is a complex and expressive work that demands the balancing act between the highest discipline and the greatest freedom from the musicians. The Charles Mingus Ensemble set up by Martin Zenker rose to this challenge with bravado. An additional challenge was to carry out the rehearsals and recordings under very difficult conditions during the pandemic.
“Forget all my other records” is probably the most famous quote from Charles Mingus about his own work “The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady”. The suite is considered the masterpiece of the American bassist, composer and poet. He is one of the most important pioneers of the avant-garde and a link between tradition and modernity in jazz like few others. Mingus conceived the opus as a ballet, but it was never performed again after it was recorded in New York in 1963. The work is regarded as the most personal and at the same time the strongest testimony of this extraordinary musician – and as a contemporary testimony to the emancipation of jazz.
Martin Zenker’s Charles Mingus Ensemble consists of Otgonbaatar Amgalanbaatar (as, cl), Nico Siebeck (ts), Khasar Ganbaatar (bs), Nico Weber (tp), Lukas Tutert (tp), Michael Haas (tb), Fabian Graf ( tuba), Simon Harscheidt (guitar), Marina Schlagintweit (p), Vincent Rein (b), Nathan Carruthers (dr).
“The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady”, Saturday, April 30, 8 p.m. (admission 7.30 p.m.) in the Grafing City Library, Grenzstraße 5. Admission: 15 euros, reduced 10 euros. Reservation: [email protected]