Curated by MacPhail’s jazz coordinator, Adam Linz, the Jazz Thursdays series typically features jazz faculty as well as visiting guest artists. Supported by a $15,000 National Endowment for the Arts American Masterpieces Chamber Music grant, this season MacPhail has presented a special project of four concerts, clinics and a lecture that focused on the music of Charles Mingus. Why the focus on Mingus? “Mingus was a rare figure for his time,” said Linz. “Along with Ellington, Mingus is one of America's untapped treasures. We’re just trying to make him more of a household name amongst jazz listeners.” Dubbing Mingus a “one-man avant garde,” John McDonough recently interviewed Linz about the MacPhail grant  in Chamber Music magazine. Linz further explained, “It’s the ability to find spontaneity in music that’s fifty years old [and to] take it somewhere it hasn’t been. That’s the spirit of Mingus… You have a band that rehearses without charts and adds to the performance…we want to keep that spirit that it may all fall apart.” Although rarely performed, the large combo music of Mingus yielded what many believe to be his best recordings and most important tour of his career. “The large combo setting provided Mingus with the opportunity to showcase the virtuosity of his musicians," notes Linz. "From 'Meditations' to 'Revelations,' this was the size group that drove the most important ensemble of its time. The 1964 world tour would prove to be one of the most important in the history of jazz.”

The first three Mingus concerts focused on music for trio, quintet and nonet. The finale septet includes Mike Lewis and Chris Thomson on saxophones, Greg Lewis on trumpet, Scott Agster on trombone, Bryan Nichols on piano, Adam Linz on bass and JT Bates on drums.

The septet musicians, all of whom were part of the nonet for the February concert, include:

Michael Lewis plays saxophone for the nationally acclaimed bands Happy Apple and Fat Kid Wednesdays, and pulls out the bass for tours with Andrew Bird. He's also played electric bass (and sometimes clarinet) with Martin Dosh and with rock bands Alpha Consumer, Red Start and Fog. The Minneapolis South High alum gained national attention (outside of his sax work for Happy Apple and Fat Kids) while touring with Bird, appearing on David Letterman and The Tonight Show.

Chris Thomson studied classical and jazz music, and began composing and leading his own bands during the short-lived run of the Brilliant Corners club in St. Paul. Recently Chris has been recording and/or performing with many of the Twin Cities most creative artists, including J.T. and Chris Bates, Anthony Cox, Dean Magraw, Dave King, Michael Lewis, Adam Linz, Kelly Rossum and many others. He performs with the Enormous Quartet, Shovel, Jazz Is Now! Nownet and his own trio. In summer 2007, Chris Thomson released his solo acoustic/electronic recording, The Three Elements. 

Trumpeter Greg Lewis (Mike’s dad) has played with the Cedar Avenue Big Band, Alloy Brass and many other ensembles over his 30-year career. He's recorded with Fog on trumpet and French horn, and sometimes pulls out the pocket trumpet.  

Once a student of Tiny Baker, trombonist Scott Agster is an alum of the famed University of North Texas One O’Clock Lab Band who has furthered his studies at the U of M where he is completing his DMA degree. His eclectic chops are featured locally with Snowblind, Davina & the Vagabonds, Salsa del Soul, Jack Brass, hip hop group G8, and the Bella Gala Big Band. A veteran of international jazz festivals, Agster has performed with Slide Hampton, Nicholas Payton, Phil Woods, Benny Golson, Dave Douglas and more. He’s on the brass/woodwind faculty of McNally Smith College.

Bryan Nichols returned to his native Minnesota after studies at Iowa State and a few years of gigging in Chicago. A member of the 2004 edition of Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead (“Jazz Stars of Tomorrow”), he performed at Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. He’s played with Ari Brown, Maurice Brown, Von Freeman and more, and is currently on the faculty of the MacPhail Center for Music. He leads his own trio and quartet in addition to We Are Many, and is a frequent performer at Cafe Maude, Dakota and Artists Quarter.

Bassist Adam Linz earned degrees in physics at Columbia University and in jazz studies at William Paterson University. Living on the East Coast in the mid to late 90s, he played with an ensemble dedicated to performing the music of Charles Mingus. He eventually returned to the Twin Cities, building his reputation as an adroit and innovative bassist with such groups as Gloryland Pony Cat, FKG, Dave King Trucking Company and the acclaimed trio, Fat Kid Wednesdays. Over his career, he’s also appeared with Evan Parker, Stanley Turrentine, Milt Jackson, Dosh, Francois Tusques, Douglas Ewart, and Ten Thousand Things Theatre Company. Adam has been increasingly involved in jazz education, currently coordinating jazz at MacPhail and directing the high school ensemble, Dakota Combo –which competed in the highly selective Charles Mingus High School Competition in New York earlier this month.

J.T. Bates is one of the busiest drummers in the Twin Cities, on and off the bandstand. He was a member of Motion Poets, has played and recorded with Doug Little, performs with the band on Prairie Home Companion, and recently has worked with a variety of Latin, electronic, and experimental ensembles, the Bryan Nichols Trio, Kelly Rossum Quartet, Low Blow and Fat Kid Wednesdays.

Among the youngest exponents of the music of Mingus, the teen musicians of the Dakota Combo have been studying and playing this repertoire since their successful auditions in Septmeber. A MacPhail ensemble in partnership with the Dakota Foundation for Jazz Education, the ensemble was selected as one of 12 bands nationally (six combos, six big bands) to participate in the Charles Mingus High School Band Festival and Competition in February. Their free-wheeling salute to the adventurous collaborations that form the essence of Mingus’s music was recognized with the Mingus Spirit Award. As special guests on March 24th, they will offer a sampling of this spirit. The Dakota Combo, directed by Adam Linz, includes Dan Hupp (Minneapolis Southwest) and Brad Allen (Minntetonka) on saxophones; DeCarlo Jackson (St Paul Conservatory of the Performing Arts) on trumpet; John Cushing (Minnetonka) on trombone; Quentin Tschofen (Spring Lake Park Lighthouse Program) on piano, Caitlin Kelliher (Minneapolis Southwest) and Jordan Jenkins (Apple Valley) on bass, and Emerson Hunton (Minneapolis South) on drums.

All Jazz Thursdays concerts are held in MacPhail’s Antonello Hall, 501 South Second Street in Minneapolis’ Mill District, at 8 pm. On March 24th, there will be a pre-concert Q & A at 7:00 pm. Tickets are $10 ($5 students) and available at the door.