The Fourth of Four for Mingus with AJ Johnson at Alphabet City - Northside

Live and Online

Charles Mingus’ biggest influence was Duke Ellington. Mingus briefly played with the Ellington Orchestra in 1953 and recorded the all-time great trio record Money Jungle with Duke and Max Roach in 1962. This final concert will spotlight Charles Mingus’ tributes to Duke Ellington, creating a unique homage to both of these major figures in the history of jazz. 

Aaron J Johnson, Charles Mingus

Aaron J. Johnson is Assistant Professor and Interim Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Pittsburgh where he studies and teaches jazz, funk, film music, and MIR (music information retrieval). He studies social aspects of how music is produced, organized, and presented, the efforts of musicians to counter powerful institutional forces, and how musicians use media of all kinds. A professional jazz musician born and raised in Washington, D.C. during the apex of the Chocolate City era, he has electrical engineering degrees from Carnegie Mellon (BSEE) and Georgia Tech (MS) and a PhD in Music from Columbia University. He plays trombone, tuba, bass clarinet, and conch shells.