Saturday, March 29, 2025: WILLIE RUFF MEMORIAL AT YALE: MINGUS BIG BAND WITH SPECIAL GUEST JIMMY OWENS
Willie Ruff Memorial Concert
Saturday, March 29, 2025
Woolsey Hall, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
2:00-3:15 PM Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars
3:30-4:00 PM Panel Discussion
4:30-5:45 PM Mingus Big Band plus Jimmy Owens
In addition to forging his own career as a trumpeter, bandleader, and educator, Jimmy Owens is a veteran of both Mingus’ Jazz Workshop and later, Mingus Dynasty. His discography with these groups includes 1965 performances at the Monterey Jazz Festival and UCLA’s Royce Hall, plus a television special for WNET (PBS THIRTEEN, NYC/Newark), Jazz: The Experimenters hosted by Ralph Ellison & Martin Williams. After the untimely passing of Mingus in 1979, Owens reprised his role in the trumpet chair of Mingus Dynasty for their debut recording, Chair in the Sky, from the same year.
Along with the Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars, the performers will celebrate the life and legacy of Willie Ruff, Professor Emeritus at Yale School of Music, who passed away December 24, 2023.
