Charles Mingus Centennial Concerts & Memorial Announced

Honoring the Centennial of legendary jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus The Mingus Dynasty Quintet featuring Jack Walrath and special guest artist Charles McPherson will kick off a three-city concert tour in Arizona, the place of Mingus' birth. (April 22, 1922 in Nogales, Arizona)

The tour will begin on Thursday, April 21, 2022 at 7:30 pm at The Nash Jazz Club in Phoenix, Arizona's premiere jazz venue. The next evening, on Charles Mingus's 100th birthday, April 22, the celebration continues at Arizona's newest major jazz club, the Century Room at Hotel Congress in Tucson for two shows at 7 and 9 pm. The club's name celebrates both the 100th year of Hotel Congress and Charles Mingus's birth. On April 23, 2022, the tour moves on to participate in the annual jazz festival held in Nogales, and to dedicate the new Mingus Memorial built at the former entrance to Camp Little, where Charles Mingus was born and his father served as a Buffalo Soldier.

The music and memory of Charles Mingus was passionately advocated in Arizona by the vision and hard work of the late Yvonne Ervin. In 1993, years before founding the Tucson Jazz Festival, Yvonne organized "Jazz on the Border: The Mingus Project," which included youth education, a performance of Mingus's Epitaph and the world premiere of a long-lost movement from that masterwork, and free concerts on both sides of the border (Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora). Jack Walrath, featured in this tour, appeared with other Mingus alumni at that event.

i??The project inspired jazz lovers in Nogales to establish the Charles Mingus Hometown Music Festival. Upon returning to Arizona in 2011, Yvonne founded Santa Cruz Alliance for the Arts (SCAA) to expand the festival and partner with the city to build the Mingus Memorial. Over recent years, Yvonne brought in both Mingus Dynasty and this tour's special guest, Mingus alumnus Charles McPherson to headline the festival.

The construction of the Mingus Memorial is now complete and will be dedicated in Nogales on the final day of the tour. CHARLES MINGUS CENTENNIAL ARIZONA TOUR
MINGUS DYNASTY QUINTET Featuring Jack Walrath and Special Guest Artist Charles McPherson

Charles McPherson, alto saxophone, Jack Walrath, trumpet, Craig Handy, tenor saxophone, Theo Hill, piano, Andy McKee, bass, Chris Beck, drums

PHOENIX April 21, 2022 at 7:30 pm (Tour Kick Off) The Nash Tickets $37-$45 thenash.org

TUCSON April 22, 2022 at 7 and 9 pm (Charles Mingus'100th Birthday) The Century Room, Hotel Congress Tickets: $35 & $40

NOGALES April 23, 2022 (Birthplace of Charles Mingus) Charles Mingus Centennial Jazz Festival & Dedication of Mingus Memorial