A tribute to legacy of Mingus

The 80th anniversary of Charles Mingus’ birth has been woefully overlooked in Los Angeles, the city in which he was reared and first came to musical maturity.

Fortunately, James Newton and the Luckman Jazz Orchestra came to the rescue Saturday night at Cal State L.A.’s Luckman Fine Arts Complex with “Mingus at 80 -- A Los Angeles Homecoming.”

Touching the spirit and the substance of this remarkable artist’s music, the concert -- which also featured the Los Angeles Symphonic Camerata conducted by David Buck -- offered the sort of creatively alive experience that was the essential characteristic of the great bassist and composer’s art.

Unlike Duke Ellington, his acknowledged idol and influence, Mingus rarely had the opportunity to work with a large, stable, continually available ensemble. In addition, his highly volatile personality -- intensified by the painful realities of the segregated world in which he spent a substantial portion of his life -- tended to place the focus upon his polarizing public persona rather than his music.

Which was unfortunate, since Mingus’ great attribute as an artist was his capacity to transform all of his experiences, all the aspects of who he was as a man, into stunning creative accomplishments.

Newton’s program -- with much from which to choose -- selected an illuminating collection of Mingus’ works: from the sweet lyricism of “Celia” and the tender tribute to Lester Young, “Goodbye, Pork Pie Hat,” to the sardonic anger of “Fables of Faubus” and the layered inventiveness of the rarely heard film score “Todo Modo.”

The last work, performed effectively by the Camerata with the LJO rhythm section, traced to the last years of Mingus’ life. Despite its sometimes uneven qualities, it was a poignant reminder of the unrealized potential present when Mingus died of Lou Gehrig’s disease in 1979 at the age of 56.

Other pieces -- “Haitian Fight Song,” “Boogie Stop Shuffle,” “Pithecanthropus Erectus” -- simmered with a more fundamental jazz feeling, propulsively driven by unerring combinations of compelling melodies and viscerally gripping rhythms.

The LJO, continuing to expand its importance as one of the Southland’s premier jazz ensembles, once again demonstrated how a big jazz band can perform with the improvisational spontaneity of a small group. A few of the standouts among the many solo offerings came from tenor saxophonist Bennie Maupin (“Goodbye, Pork Pie Hat,”), trombonist Isaac Smith (“Celia”), tuba player William Roper (offering the dramatic narration on “Fables of Faubus”), and on a variety of pieces, alto saxophonist Ann Patterson and pianist Lanny Hartley.

Brilliantly taking the responsibility for replicating Mingus’ instrumental contributions was bassist Jeffery Littleton.