USA,
1997, 78 min
Shown in 1998
CREDITS
- dir
-
Don McGlynn
- prod
-
Don McGlynn, Sue Mingus
- cam
-
Mike Spiller
- editor
-
Don McGlynn, Christian Moltke-Leth
- source
-
Don McGlynn, Absalonsgade 21 A 3th, DK 1658 Copenhagen V, Denmark. FAX: 45-31-31-96-48
- gga award
-
Golden Spire, Film & Video: The Arts
-
COMMENTS
Screened with Nulle Sonne No Point.
OTHER
Take one part musical genius, one part rage, a liberal dose of insightfulness, infuse it with passion, top it all off with years of classical music training and what do you get? One of the greatest composers in American history—Charles Mingus. A master at amalgamation, Mingus took inspiration not only from Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker but also from “the way the waiter spoke to me at dinner.” The combination of his emotional volatility and his incredible talent produced some of the most original music in jazz history. Mingus began his career as a bassist in the big band era, but by the mid-’50s he had developed into that rare breed—a jazz composer whose music eloquently expressed the intensity and fragility of a life lived close to the edge... every edge. With clips culled from a series of television performances and interviews from the ’60s and ’70s and present-day musings from bandmates, ex-wives and others who knew him, Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog is a portrait of Mingus in all his shapes and guises—articulate, endearing, obnoxious, immature—but always brutally and beautifully honest. Ultimately, it was this unwillingness to compromise or censor himself which nearly destroyed him. Intensity and authenticity collide in Mingus’s music—creating both a window onto and a mirror of this life lived in colossal dimensions.
—Wendy McLaughlin
FACTOID #175
In 1967, two years prior to her death, the Festival honored Judy Garland in the first (according to the program note) American homage of her work. Garland was unable to attend.
