CHARLES MINGUS DOC & JAZZ GIG

WHAT A GREAT NIGHT!

The music of Charlie Mingus played by a top-notch quintet of jazz musicians!

Roger Gibson is a jazz fan as well as the Artistic Director of the annual Film Festival at the New Park Cinema. He always likes to have a Jazz Night within the Festival. This year is the centenary of the birth of Charlie Mingus – a giant of jazz and a brilliant bass player and composer.

So, the evening began with a screening of an excellent 1997 documentary about Mingus, his life and achievements, including many examples of his music.

After a short break, the superb quintet played a selection of his compositions that enthralled and delighted a full house. Roger had asked Andy Cleyndert – appropriately, one of the foremost British jazz bassists – to choose, organise and rehearse the quintet. The musicianship they displayed was truly exceptional and it was no surprise that they received a standing ovation which secured an encore!

Thank you Roger and Walter Francisco, the Cinema Director, for an evening that those present (including the musicians, I fancy) will always remember.

If you are – or think you might be – a jazz fan, have a look at the website www.chichesterjazzclub.co.uk to see who and when more of the country’s best jazz musicians will be playing at the club.

Peter Stoakley
Friend of the Cinema