Da Camera Jazz Series
Mingus Big Band featuring Helen Sung, piano
Homecoming #3: Helen Sung

Mingus Big Band celebrates the music of legendary composer/bassist Charles Mingus , who died in 1979. Under the artistic direction of Sue Mingus, this 14-piece band performed Thursday nights from 1991 to 2004 at Fez under Time Cafe in New York. It maintained weekly residencies in the city from 2004 until 2008, when it began Mingus Mondays at the Jazz Standard. The Mingus Big Band tours extensively in the United States and abroad, and has ten recordings to its credit, seven of which have been nominated for Grammys. Pianist Helen Sung, a Houston native and graduate of HSPVA, has long been associated with the band and makes a homecoming appearance.

“Decades after his death, the richly-detailed, soul-stirring oeuvre of Charles Mingus still packs a wallop. Thankfully, the beat goes on in the form of the Mingus Big Band.” – National Public Radio

“lyricism, light touch, and classical polish…complemented by plenty of hard-chord muscle” — The Guardian, London on Helen Sung