Fine tribute to Charles Mingus in Composer Of The Week

Music for Grown-Ups is a big fan of BBC Radio 3 and its flagship series like Composer Of The Week.

The series, dealing in depth with a single composer over five one-hour programmes, covers all the big classical names, as well as introducing names you’ve never heard of. It’s the highlight of many music-lovers’ weeks.

All praise to the team for risking the wrath of staid, hidebound listeners in the classical ghetto by running this week’s programmes on jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus.

Regular presenter Donald Macleod has been helped out by jazz buff Brian Priestley to produce a revelatory suite of programmes.

Here’s what’s being played this week:


Better Git It In Yo' Soul
Half-Mast Inhibition
Mingus Fingers, Lionel Hampton and his orchestra
Inspiration - Parts 1 and 2, Charlie Mingus and his 22 piece Bebop Band
Eclipse, Charles Mingus Octet with Janet Thurlow (vocal)
Getting Together
Pithecanthropus Erectus
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Haitian Fight Song, The Charles Mingus Jazz Workshop
Ysabel's Table Dance
Scenes In The City
Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting
Moanin'
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Jelly Roll, Mingus Ah Um
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
Gunslinging Bird
Open Letter to Duke, Mingus Ah Um CBS 450436 2 Tr 5
Original Faubus Fables
Meditations (excerpt)
Passions Of A Man
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I Can't Get Started
Epitaph Part 2
Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
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Don't Let It Happen Here
Don't Be Afraid, The Clown's Afraid Too
Sue's Changes
Epitaph: Ballad (In Other Words, I Am Three)




Online access: like many BBC radio programmes, Composer Of The Week is being broadcast online (streamed) and is archived for online listening for seven days after broadcast:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer



Gerry Smith