Mingus Dynasty

Charles Mingus remains an imposing figure in jazz even some 45 years after his early death. The master of the double-bass, accomplished pianist, bandleader, and composer was instrumental in moving jazz forward during his lifetime. And his multitudinous body of compositions — Mingus continued to write even after ALS robbed him of his ability to play — continue to be explored, reinterpreted, and recorded by the best musicians and bandleaders in jazz, and hold a prominent place in curricula at all levels of jazz education. So it’s fitting that Mingus Dynasty, the first ensemble constituted by Mingus’s widow, Sue, after her husband’s death, comes to UMass Amherst as part of our annual collaboration with the Department of Music and Dance’s High School Jazz Festival. Having spent the day working with young jazz students from across the region, the members of Mingus Dynasty will take the Frederick C. Tillis Performance Hall stage to cap the day with one of their signature master performances of Mingus compositions.

Formed in 1979, just after Mingus’s death, and originally made up of musicians who had recorded and played with Mingus, the ensemble has been carrying the legacy of its eponym for more than four decades. Mingus Dynasty’s shifting but always virtuosic members invariably perform awe-inspiring live sets as they celebrate and explore Charles Mingus’s rich and varied musical legacy.

Philip Harper – trumpet
Mark Gross – saxophone
Wayne Escoffery – saxophone
Conrad Herwig – trombone
Helen Sung – piano
Barry Stephenson – bass
Donald Edwards – drums