Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog
by Don McGlynn
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Charles Mingus, Gunther SchullerDirector: Don McGlynn
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Black & White, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 78 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-03-23
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: SHANACHIE
Movie Reviews of Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog
Movie Review: Get the VHS Tape (5 stars), DVD has awful sound (1 Star)
Summary: 3 Stars
I have this on VHS tape and DVD. I've watched it dozens of times. To me, it's not about Mingus the bass player or composer. It's about how great artists are often conflicted, complex, sometimes self-destructive and contradictory people. And in this sense it is a 100% successful documentary with spot-on interviews. But the archival sound on the DVD is just terrible. Speaking and more mordern music sound is OK. Older music is better on the VHS tape.
Summary of Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog
Don McGlynn's uncompromising and soulful documentary look at the tumultuous life of musician and rebel Charles Mingus is fascinating stuff. Mingus said of himself "I am half black man, half yellow man, but I claim to be a Negro. I am Charles Mingus, the famed jazz musician--but not famed enough to make a living in America." His statement summed up the conflict that plagued this musical genius his entire life: volatility, pain, prescience, and raw rage roiled inside a complex man, composer, bass player, and trombonist who transcended labels and refused to be pigeonholed into a single musical style--and who did not achieve real fame until late in his career. The documentary is full of well-preserved footage and contains interviews with many Mingus followers like Wynton Marsalis as well as performances by icons Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, and Gerry Mulligan. The film traverses past the musical legend with insight and information into Mingus's personal life, his civil rights activism, and his final triumph in the music world--just as his body began to deteriorate from Lou Gehrig's disease--to his eventual death in 1979. Mingus left a legacy composed of genius, vulnerability, brilliance, anarchy, and, as one friend noted, "the entire range of human emotion that is reflected in his music." --Paula NechakDocumentary DVD Video
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