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Atonal Lament For Charles Mingus
Two cellos start to cry
Softly; then four violins
Enter in unison, screaming
A dervish chorus of wails
Alive, but in sotto voce
Trombones bleat... Jimmy's, Willy's...
And groan. With a shrill
French and an English horn
Two flutes whisper in pain
And a dervish chorus of wails
Full attack on the living. Crescendo
Saxophones sniffle and honk
Two tenors; an alto and soprano
One flute whimpers suddenly
Underscored by cellos
The dervish chorus surfaces
For air... Four violins
Sigh... A groaning bass
Leads in a lungful of tuba
Anger — Anger — Anger
Reposed in a soprano saxophone
Now singing cool — cool — cool
Dannie's tympani rumbles...
And tubular bells...
Iterate percussion will never agree
A lonely triplet
Horace Parlan
Then — pianissimo
The dervish chorus exhumes
His spirit once more
Ensemble begins recessional
Then stops.
High above the two cornets
Jack Walrath's trumpet wails
Dannie brushes the sock
Then all is still...
Echoes in the chill of death
Generations weep for Charles Mingus
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