Ethan Philion's presents a set of music with his Meditations on Mingus project.

Featuring:
Russ Johnson and Victor Garcia on trumpets
Lenard Simpson, Jon Irabagon and Sharel Cassity on saxophones
Norman Palm and Brendan Whalen on trombones
Ben Waltzer on piano
Greg Artry on drums

Ethan Philion’s 10 piece band dedicated to honoring the legacy of bassist and composer Charles Mingus. The program will feature new arrangements of Mingus compositions as well as an original composition by bandleader Ethan Philion commissioned by the Chicago Jazz Institute's New Works Fresh Voices program.

Austin Town Hall Park

Philion's project, Meditations on Mingus, connects the social and political themes in Mingus’s music to modern life. Mingus used his music to speak against injustice and to call for compassion towards all people. His message resonates in our current era--an era marked by increasing incidents of hate crimes, aggressive political polarization, and ever-increasing wealth disparity. The compositions performed in “Meditations”--such as “Pithecanthropus Erectus,” “Meditations on a Pair of Wire Cutters,”and “Haitian Fight Song,”--speak to these issues of injustice. The compositions ask listeners to reflect on humanity’s capacity for evil, but as Mingus’s psychiatrist put it, they are also “a call for acceptance, respect, love, understanding, fellowship, freedom--a plea to change the evil in man and to end hatred.” The group has performed at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, the Green Mill, and more. They will be featured at the 2022 Chicago Jazz Festival and are releasing their debut album on August 26th on Sunnyside Records.

Presented and supported by Jazz Institute of Chicago and the Mellon Foundation as part of the New Works Fresh Voices program.