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| Mingus Compositions, Ellington Sacred Music LOS ANGELES  Flutist-composer-conductor James Newton will conduct the Luckman Jazz Orchestra in its final concert of the season on Saturday, April 20, 2002 at 8:00 p.m. at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex, Cal State L.A. The program, ÂMainly Mingus, will feature the LuckmanÂs critically acclaimed 16-piece big band performing works by Los Angeles most distinguished jazz composer, Charles Mingus, plus some selections from Duke EllingtonÂs sacred music compositions. Charles Mingus (1922-1979) is widely considered one of the three top jazz composers in the world  just behind Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Taking place just two days before the eightieth anniversary of his April 22 birthday, the program at the Luckman this spring will be the first of two concerts to survey the works of Mingus. A second concert next fall, funded in part by an NEA grant, will culminate the LuckmanÂs Mingus birthday celebration, and will highlight other jazz compositions by Mingus and some of his chamber music. James Newton, the artistic director of the resident Luckman Jazz Orchestra, which debuted in November 2001, is also a professor of music at Cal State L.A. and the Luckman director of music programming and research. In addition to the Mingus birthday celebration concert scheduled for November 2002, plans for the Luckman's 2002-03 season include the Asian American Jazz Festival (October 2002), and participation by the Luckman Jazz Orchestra in the citywide Sacred Music Festival (September 2002), sponsored by the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department. For the Sacred Music Festival, the orchestra will perform a program of the sacred music of Duke Ellington at the Luckman and at another Los Angeles venue to be announced. The musicians slated to perform on April 20 include: James Newton - conductor; Charles Owens - alto; Ann Patterson - alto; Herman Riley - tenor; Frederick Keith Fiddmont - tenor; Pablo Calogero - baritone; Bijon Watson - trumpet; Snooky Young - trumpet; Carl R. Saunders - trumpet; Bobby Rodriguez - trumpet; George Bohanon - trombone; Ryan Porter - trombone; Arturo Velasco - trombone; William Roper - tuba; Lanny Hartley - piano; Jeffery Littleton - Bass; Leon ÂNdugu Chancler - drums. WHAT: WHEN: WHERE: TICKETS:
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