On Wednesday, April 2 at 12:10 p.m., the free admission Glendale Noon Concerts program will be performed live in the sanctuary of Glendale City Church, 610 E. California Ave. in Glendale.  

Performed will be a jazz program with pianist Morgan Jones and bassist Scott Worthington.

Morgan Jones is a multi-instrumentalist performer, composer and educator with degrees from The Juilliard School and USC Thornton School of Music, where he studied both piano and saxophone. He teaches piano students of all levels through his private studio while continuing to perform, record and compose in multiple genres. 

Free jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman mentored and prepared Jones to be his replacement as the alto sax soloist for the world premiere of “Concerto for Ornette,” composed by Coleman’s longtime friend Carman Moore.  The  New York Times  favorably reviewed Morgan’s performance at Alice Tully Hall, which Coleman attended.  

Jones played tenor sax with Aretha Franklin at the Oracle Arena during her historic final tour of California. He can be heard on baritone sax on Panic! At the Disco’s album  Pray for the Wicked, including the four-time platinum single “High Hopes.” Jones is currently the jazz pianist for the American Contemporary Ballet. He served for several years as the gospel choir director, pianist and organist for Hamilton United Methodist Church and Faith UMC. He regularly plays with funk band Scary Pockets as well as its sister band Pomplamoose, and is a longtime collaborator of singer-songwriter Heather Porcaro. He and Tamir Hendelman often play as a piano duo, presenting original arrangements of Oscar Peterson’s Canadiana Suite and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. His original compositions are featured in the indie thriller  “Mojave” starring Oscar Isaac. His passion for music education began at Juilliard where he studied music pedagogy with Dr. Ed Bilous and taught in New York City public schools through the Morse Teaching Artist Fellowship. As co-chair of the Music and Medicine Initiative with Weill Cornell, he also led symposia on synesthesia, performance anxiety and perfect pitch.

Scott Worthington enjoys a diverse career as a musician in Los Angeles. A “masterful and transfixing” bassist (NewMusicBox), he performs as a soloist, in orchestras and recording studios, and with improvisors and chamber groups. As a performer-composer, his albums have garnered critical acclaim. Prism was named one of The New Yorker’s most notable classical albums of 2015 and called “as bewitching as it is original” by Alex Ross. Worthington’s other releases have been praised by The New York Times (“continually surprises and delights with tiny, glittering events”) and the National Sawdust Log (“quietly gripping”). 

As an electronic musician, Worthington has performed at the Ojai Music Festival, on the wasteLAnd and People Inside Electronics concert series, and created software for performances of music ranging from Lucier to Boulez. His own compositions and solo concerts make frequent use of electronic sound and live computer processing. As a recording engineer and producer, his work can be heard on Bridge, Microfest, Innova, Orenda, and Populist Records. Worthington’s current projects focus on improvisation with custom software in a duo with Christopher Burns and his own system Cassini.

He is the principal bassist of the Redlands Symphony and teaches at the University of Redlands Conservatory of Music and Cal State LA. Worthington studied at the Eastman School of Music with James VanDemark and the University of California San Diego with Mark Dresser.

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