Mingus Big Band — North Sea Jazz Festival, 1995

Full live concert by the Mingus Big Band at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague, Netherlands, in the mid-1990s (programmed at the festival in 1995). Formed in New York to carry on and reinvent the work of bassist and composer Charles Mingus, this big band gathers some of the finest soloists of contemporary jazz around a repertoire as demanding as it is flamboyant. This capture documents an entire set at North Sea Jazz, one of the most prestigious jazz festivals in the world: dense arrangements, powerful tutti, fiery improvisation and that distinctly Mingusian tension between learned writing and the freedom of the blues are caught across several pieces. The vitality of the brass, the tempo shifts and the collective spirit of Mingus’s music come fully into their own in this setting. A valuable document for lovers of big band and modern jazz, this full concert illustrates the living transmission of a monumental repertoire. Filed under jazz, it will appeal to connoisseurs and newcomers alike, eager to discover the legacy of Charles Mingus on stage.