Through discussion, performance, and music samples, educator and trumpeter, Pharez Whitted will celebrate America’s most important jazz musician, the legendary Louis Armstrong.

"What is This Thing Called Jazz?" is programmed by the Jazz Institute of Chicago's Education Committee.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Pharez Whitted has deep roots in music, going back to the 1930’s in Indianapolis where the Hampton Family Band first began performing. His family was steeped in music, including his mother, VIrtue, a singer and bassist; his uncle, trombonist and NEA Jazz Master,“Slide” Hampton; and his father,Thomas Whitted, drummer with Freddie Hubbard and Wes Montgomery. Earning his Master’s degree in music at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, Pharez became Director of Jazz Studies at Chicago State University. He has recorded five albums as a leader and performed with Nancy Wilson, Freddie Hubbard, Slide Hampton, John Mellencamp, Chaka Khan, Ahmad Jamal, George Duke, Kirk Whalum, Elvin Jones, Branford Marsalis and Meshell Ndegeocello, among others. He is Jazz Director of Chicago's Youth Symphony Orchestra and works with Jazz at Lincoln Center and Ravinia's Jazz Scholar program. Retired music critic for the Chicago Tribune, Howard Reich, has written of Pharez that “he commands a richly deserved reputation as a trumpet virtuoso, seasoned educator and irrepressible champion of the music."