Friday, January 29, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 7
Band to jazz up Lied Center
By Ezra Sykes
By Ezra Sykes
Kansan staff writer
The sounds of an American music legend are coming to the Lied Center tonight.
The Mingus Big Band, inspired by the late bassist and composer Charles Mingus, will perform at 8 p.m.
Richard Wright, associate professor of music, said Mingus was one of the key figures in jazz history for both his bass-playing and his music-writing ability.
"He was one of the first to get away from the mainstream," Wright said. "His writing was so different. It was cutting edge."
Mingus is considered one of the most influential jazz artists ever, with over 100 albums and over 300 scores to his name.
Mingus died of Lou Gehrig's disease in 1979 at the age of 56.
One year later, Mingus' widow, Sue,
organized the first Mingus Big Band in order to keep the spirit of her late husband's music alive.
The ever-changing band consists of 14 jazz musicians drawn from a pool of about 100. The band's personnel changes for every performance.
For the past seven years, the band has played every Thursday night at The Fez, a New York night club, using the gigs as workshops to explore the music
of Mingus
David Brodie, Overland Park freshman, recalled the first time he had heard Charles Mingus' music.
"I had no idea that jazz could be like that," said Brodie. "It was chaotic and insane. I became obsessed and started gathering all the CDs I could find."
By blending the attributes of traditional jazz and classical music in his compositions, Mingus began achieving prominence in the 1950s with his ground-breaking compositions.
Brodie said Mingus' ability to draw from both classical and jazz music were impressive.
"The complexity of his music rivals classical but at the same time he demands his musicians to improvise," he said. "The music contains the vitality of jazz and the intellectual stimulation of classical."
The band has played in many major U.S. cities, and in 1983 it played in Washington to celebrate the entrance of Minga's works into the Library of Congress.
Mingus was the First African-American composer to have his complete works acquired by the Library of Congress.
The band's repertoire includes band members' arrangements of Mingus compositions, Mingus' arrangements and those of his frequent collaborator Sy Johnson
Jazz vocalist Kevin Mahogany, a
The late Charles Mingus was a key figure in the history of jazz because of his skills at playing bass and writing music. Contributed Photo
Kansas City native and Baker University graduate, will accompany the band
Tickets for the Mingus Big Band are available at the Lied Center box office. Tickets are $30 and $55 for the public, $15 and $17.50 for KU, Haskell Indian Nations University and kindergarten through high school students and $29 and $44 for senior citizens.
City overlooks shortfall from KPS
Kansan staff writer
By Heather Woodward
Although Kansas Public Service underpaid the City of Lawrence $169,387 in franchise fees, the city is not asking the company to pay it back.
City Manager Mike Wildgen said the city would 'not require KPS to pay back the amount owed for the past year because the language in the company's franchise ordinance with the city was weak. The ordinance specifically did not include customer service fees and did not require KPS to pay the city for transportation fees, Wildgen said.
Larissa Johns, director of communications services for Util Corp. United, the parent company for KPS, said it had to pay a
franchise fee to be able to sell natural gas to its customers. Other Kansas cities included such fees as a part of charges to customers. However, the Lawrence ordinance did not specifically define these charges when it was last negotiated and adopted in May 1984.
The omission was found in an audit of KPS for the city by David M. Griffith and Associates, Ltd., which determined that the company underpaid the city $109,258 in customer service fees and $60,129 in transportation fees from the franchise fee base.
"We hope we would have a new contract negotiated before it expires in May," she said. "Any additional charges would not go into effect until the new franchise is approved."
The average amount Lawrence
customers paid KPS last year was $450, Johns said. Five percent of that goes to the city under the franchise ordinance.
Johns said that if additional customer service charges were approved, they would cost residents $3.20 on average for the year, or about 31 cents a month.
Transportation charges may oi may not be included in the city's new franchise contract with KPS, Johns said. In the city's review of KPS, it was determined that transportation charges had been charged to customers but had never been remitted to the city.
Wilden said that in upcoming negotiations with KPS, he hoped to pursue an ordinance that would avoid future confusion.
Johns said a schedule for such negotiations had not been set.
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