The always free and talented lineup of Chicago Jazz Fest is here! Including many Delmark artists

Artists from the Delmark catalog – Jason Adasiewicz, Soul Message Band, Jeff Parker, Ernest Dawkins

Chicago Jazz Festival Schedule — August 29, 2024

Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St. FREE Admission

Chicago Jazz Festival  >  Thursday, August 29, 2024

Thursday,
Aug. 29

(schedule is subject to change)

Claudia Cassidy Theater, 2nd Floor North

• 1-2pm – The Young Masters presented by Live the Spirit
• 2:30-3:30pm – Jeff Chan Ensemble presented by Asian Improv
• 4-5pm – The DJAZ Quartet presented by The Elastic Arts Foundation
• 5:30-6:30pm – What is this thing called Jazz? Presented by the Education Committee of the Jazz Institute of Chicago.
  • Ryan Nyther, trumpet
  • Kevin King, saxophone
  • Aval Zaucha, piano
  • Carmani Edwards, bass
  • Frank Morrison, drums
  • Dr. Roosevelt Griffin, host

Preston Bradley Hall, 3rd Floor South

• 12:30-1:30pm – IRIS w/ Special Guest Russ Johnson presented by The Fulton Street Collective
• 2-3pm – The New Deal Gypsy Jazz Band presented by llliana Club of Traditional Jazz
• 3:30-4:30pm – The Miguel de la Cerna Quartet presented by The Hyde Park Jazz Society
• 4:45-5:45pm – The Southside All Stars featuring Di’Kobi Berry and Darius Hampton presented by The South Side Jazz Coalition
• 6-6:45pm – Jason Adasiewicz
• 7-8pm – Amina Claudine Myers

Chicago Jazz Festival Schedule — August 30, 2024

Millennium Park

Enter at Michigan Ave. & Washington St., Michigan Ave. & Madison St., Randolph St. or Monroe St. • Entrance Map

Chicago Jazz Festival  >  Friday, August 30, 2024

Thursday, Aug. 29

Millennium Park

(schedule is subject to change)

Von Freeman Stage (North Promenade)

• 11:30am-12:25pm – Maddie Vogler
• 12:40-1:35pm – Bethany Pickens Trio
• 1:50-2:45pm – Big Shoulders Brass Band
• 3-4pm – Lakecia Benjamin

WDCB Jazz Lounge (South Promenade)

• 6:45-7:45pm – Bonzo Squad
• 4:30-6:15pm – The Bruce Henry Quintet
• 2:15-4pm – Calligram Records Showcase
• 12-1:45pm – Sanctified Grumblers

Jay Pritzker Pavilion

Security gates open 2 hours before the event start time. The concert perimeter (Pritzker Pavilion, Stage and Great Lawn) will be closed to the public for 1 hour before the gates open.

• 4:15-5:05pm – The Tomeka Reid Quartet
• 5:25-6:10pm – Billy Harper Quintet
• 6:25-7:25pm – Charlie Sepúlveda
• 7:45-9pm – Catherine Russell

Chicago Jazz Festival Schedule — August 31, 2024

Millennium Park

Enter at Michigan Ave. & Washington St., Michigan Ave. & Madison St., Randolph St. or Monroe St. • Entrance Map

Chicago Jazz Festival  >   Saturday, August 31, 2024

PreviousNext

Thursday, Aug. 29

Saturday, Aug. 31

Millennium Park

(schedule is subject to change)

Harris Theater Rooftop – Young Lions Jazz (Enter on Randolph St.)

• 11am – Whitney Young Jazz Combo
• 11:50am – Midwest Young Artists Conservatory Combo
• 12:40pm – ChiArts Combo A
• 1:35pm – Lincoln Park High School Jazz Band
• 2:25pm – Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage
• 3:15pm – Kenwood Academy High School Jazz Band

Von Freeman Stage (North Promenade)

• 11:30am-12:25pm – Windy City Ramblers
• 12:40-1:35pm – Leslie Beukelman & Jeremy Kahn’s “Tonight: At Noon”
• 1:50-2:45pm – Mike Ross Quartet
• 3-4pm – James Brandon Lewis

WDCB Jazz Lounge (South Promenade)

• 6:45-7:45pm – Soul Message Band
• 4:30-6:15pm – Lynne Jordan & the Shivers
• 2:15-4pm – Charles Heath Quartet
• 12-1:45pm – Samuel Mosching Quintet

Jay Pritzker Pavilion

• 4:15-5:05pm – Dennis Carroll
• 5:25-6:10pm – Jeff Parker and The New Breed
• 6:25-7:25pm – René Marie & Experiment In Truth
• 7:45-9pm – Kenny Garrett and Sounds From The Ancestors

Chicago Jazz Festival Schedule — September 1, 2024

Millennium Park

Enter at Michigan Ave. & Washington St., Michigan Ave. & Madison St., Randolph St. or Monroe St. • Entrance Map

Chicago Jazz Festival  >  Sunday, September 1, 2024

Sunday,
Sept. 1

Millennium Park

(schedule is subject to change)

Harris Theater Rooftop – Young Lions Jazz (Enter on Randolph St.)

• 11-11:45am – Alfie Jackson Quartet
• 12-12:45pm – Brandon Harper & Friends
• 1-1:45pm – The Isabella Isherwood Quintet
• 2-2:45pm – Alejandro Salazar and the Afro Cuban Exchange
• 3-3:50pm – JCANDTHEREUPBAND

Von Freeman Stage (North Promenade)

• 11:30am-12:25pm – Mai Sugimoto
• 12:40-1:35pm – Sharel Cassity Alliance
• 1:50-2:45pm – Charlie Johnson Quartet
• 3-4pm – Jason Palmer Quartet

WDCB Jazz Lounge (South Promenade)

• 6:45-7:45pm – Juli Wood’s “Natalies Wood plays Roland Kirk”
• 4:30-6:15pm – Alexander McLean Project
• 2:15-4pm – Ernest Dawkins Quintet
• 12-1:45pm – Bethany Pickens Soulful Coalition

Jay Pritzker Pavilion

• 4:15-5:05pm – Clif Wallace Big Band
• 5:25-6:10pm – Eddie Henderson
• 6:25-7:25pm – Orrin Evans
• 7:45-9pm- Spanish Harlem Orchestra

CHICAGO JAZZ FESTIVAL THURSDAY AUG 29 IN THE CHICAGO CULTURAL CENTER

Claudia Cassidy Theater, 2nd Floor North

1-2pm – The Young Masters presented by Live the Spirit Residency

As founder of the Live the Spirit Residency, esteemed AACM veteran Ernest Dawkins has mentored any number of future musicians, ranging from now-established stars including Jeff Parker, Marquis Hill and Greg Ward to still-rising standouts including Isaiah Collier, Alexis Lombre and Jahari Stampley, winner of the 2023 Herbie Hancock Institute International Competition. Today, Live the Spirit will be represented by five phenoms: drummer Macari Ramsey, trumpeters Nathaniel Harrigan and Jamal Damien, bassist Galen Morris and pianist Miles Richey. They will be joined by Dawkins on alto and soprano saxophone.

2:30-3:30pm – Jeff Chan Trio presented by Asian Improv

Since moving to Chicago from the West Coast in 2002, saxophonist, clarinetist, flutist and composer Jeff Chan has made a strong contribution in elevating the city’s Asian American jazz scene and overall ethnic consciousness. Known for his performances with esteemed members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians including Mwata Bowden, Ari Brown and Edward Wilkerson, he will today make his festival debut as a leader, accompanied by bassist Ausberto Acevedo and drummer Vijay Anderson.

4-5pm – The DJAZ Quartet presented by The Elastic Arts Foundation

A force of nature, clarinetist, keyboardist and vocalist Angel Bat Dawid has cut a wide swath through the modern jazz scene, channeling the visionary works of the Sun Ra Arkestra, the AACM and West Coast legend Horace Tapscott’s community-based ensemble while pressing forward with electronics, futuristic gospel and sharp social commentaries. Named a 2021 “Chicagoan of the Year” by the Chicago Tribune, she will today perform as a member of an exciting collective quartet including tenor saxophonist, flutist and electronics artist Molly Jones and cornetist Ben Zucker (both members of the experimental band Mad Myth Science) and cellist Ishmael Ali of Hearsay.

5:30-6:30pm – What is This Thing Called Jazz? Presented by the Education Committee of the Jazz Institute of Chicago. 

Hosted and moderated by esteemed jazz educator Dr. Roosevelt Griffin, this regular feature of the festival lends insight into the creative process through a performance by young members of the Jazz Institute’s NextGenJazz Quintet and brief discussions of it. The musicians will include trumpeter Will Miller, saxophonist Kevin King, pianist Aval Zucha, bassist Carmani Edwards and drummer Frank Morrison.

 Preston Bradley Hall, 3rd Floor South

12:30-1:30pm – IRIS with Special Guest Russ Johnson presented by The Fulton Street Collective

Drawn from the long-running series of live “covers” of classic albums at Chicago’s Fulton Street Collective, this set will feature the collective band IRIS performing Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers’ lesser known 1962 effort, “Three Blind Mice.” IRIS was drawn to the album, which featured the awesome front line of Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter and Curtis Fuller, by its “raw energy and sense or urgency,” said tenor saxophonist Arman Sangalang. He will be joined by trombonist Kirby Fellis, pianist Austyn Monk, bassist Morgan Turner and drummer Paul Barilles, plus star trumpeter Russ Johnson in a guest role.

2-3pm – The New Deal presented by llliana Club of Traditional Jazz

A mainstay at the Little Gem Cafe in Oak Park, the New Deal specializes in Gypsy Jazz, also known as Jazz Manouche. They’ll perform songs by legendary guitarist Django Reinhardt and related material. It’s music that requires blazing speed and clockwork timing – challenges that guitarists Kevin Rush and Steve Kelly, clarinetist Teri Foster and bassist Ed Sullivan are more than up to.

3:30-4:30pm – The Miguel de la Cerna Quartet presented by The Hyde Park Jazz Society

Maestro Miguel de la Cerna, esteemed pianist and music director of standout singers including Dee Alexander will occupy the spotlight today with his own excellent quartet. It includes Ari Brown, one of last-standing representatives of Chicago’s great tenor tradition, who is going stronger than ever at 80. A stylish player with seemingly unlimited range, de la Cerna will have as his rhythm mates the terrific young bassist Micah Collier and seasoned drummer Frank Morrison.

4:45-5:45pm – The Southside All Stars featuring Di’Kobie Berry and Darius Hampton presented by The South Side Jazz Coalition

A showcase for standout artists from the South Side deserving of wider recognition, today’s presentation will bring together a varied mix of vibraphonist Di’kobe Berry, saxophonist Darius Hampton, singer-guitarist Mike Ross and veteran pianist Charlie Johnson.

Chicago Cultural Center – Evening Program

Preston Bradly Hall

6-6:45pm – Jason Adasiewicz

Hands down the most powerfully original vibraphonist on the improvised music beat, Chicago’s Jason Adasiewicz has separated himself from the pack with his hard-hitting yet lyrical approach, which opens up whole new routes of improvisation with its sustaining sounds and textures. Known for his Sun Rooms trio and collaborations with the late German saxophonist Peter Brotzmann, Adasiewicz will perform solo tonight in tribute to AACM great Roscoe Mitchell. He honors that great artist on his recent album, “Roscoe Village: The Music of Roscoe Mitchell,” which includes tunes Mitchell wrote for the Art Ensemble of Chicago. It will be great to hear Adasiewicz in the capacious setting of Preston Bradley Hall.

7-8pm – Amina Claudine Myers

This has been a great year for Amina Claudine Myers. A triple threat on organ, piano and vocals, she was named a National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master and released the acclaimed album, “Central Park’s Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens” with fellow AACM great Wadada Leo Smith, like her in his eighties. Through the years, Myers has performed and recorded with such great ensemble as Lester Bowie’s New York Organ Ensemble and Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra and collaborated in smaller groups with Muhal Richard Abrams and Pulitzer winner Henry Threadgill. She has written for vocal choirs and the theater as well and on a grand scale composed an original work for jazz orchestra in commemoration of the 2010 centennial of jazz great Mary Lou Williams. Tonight, she’ll perform solo, her preferred setting in recent times. But with the special connections she makes with her predecessors in jazz, blues and gospel, she will hardly be alone.

CHICAGO JAZZ FESTIVAL | FRIDAY AUG 30, 2024 | Full Schedule

Von Freeman Stage (North Promenade)

11:30am-12:25pm – Maddie Vogler

With her fine debut album, “While We Have Time” (a “stirring maiden effort” – DownBeat), young alto saxophonist Maddie Vogler deftly combines original songs that reflect on her Cuban roots. A 2019 Jazz Fellow with the Luminarts Cultural Foundation, she’ll perform with standout trumpeter Tito Carrillo, whom she studied with at the University of Illinois, guitarist Casey Nielsen, pianist Jake Shapiro, bassist Sam Peters and drummer Neil Hemphill.

12:40-1:35pm – Bethany Pickens Trio

Hearing pianist Bethany Pickens perform, you can’t help but sense the presence of her late, greatly missed father, Willie Pickens, who imprinted on his daughter what it takes to be a successful and individual artist. Over the course of her long and varied career (which she has pursued while teaching in our public school system), Bethany has distinguished herself as an accompanist for such greats as Clark Terry, Bobby Watson and Von Freeman and leader of her own groups. Today, she’ll be joined by Micah Collier on bass and Jeremiah Collier on drums.

1:50-2:45pm – Big Shoulders Brass Band

Formed in 1999 – they’re one of the longest-running brass bands in Chicago – the BSBB lunches on the second-line grooves of New Orleans and dines on Dixieland. It’s party music for all occasions. Prepare for them to march through the crowd radiating their footloose energy. The band includes Joe Clark and Millie Ahearn on trumpet; Airan Wright on tenor saxophone; Tim Koelling on baritone saxophone; Dan Sniderman and Matt Davis on trombone; Mike Hogg on sousaphone; Quin Kirchner on snare drum and Andrew Green on bass drum. 3-4pm – Lakecia Benjamin Quartet

3-4pm – Lakecia Benjamin Quartet

With her 2020 breakthrough album, “Pursuance: The Coltranes,” alto saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin plugged into both the spiritual wellspring that is John Coltrane and the astral expressions of his harpist wife Alice Coltrane – helping in the latter case to elevate a long-neglected artist. Benjamin was primed for stardom when she was severely injured in a car accident. Many artists would have taken months to recuperate; it’s a measure of her dedication and tenacity that she was performing songs from the album three weeks later. Now here she is, back at the top of her game, playing in support of her aptly titled 2023 follow-up album, “Phoenix” (and her subsequent live recording of it), which reflects on the achievements of Black women artists in our culture and her own survival. Her excellent band includes pianist Oscar Perez, bassist Elias Bailey and drummer E.J. Strickland.

Jay Pritzker Pavilion

4:15-5:05pm – Tomeka Reid Quartet

As its name makes clear, this is cellist Tomeka Reid‘s band, performing her compositions. But as she says, “We don’t have to be centered around any one person. I want to shift roles between all the musicians.” As demonstrated on her exceptional 2024 release, “3 + 3,” she couldn’t have more ideal partners with which to do so than guitarist Mary Halvorson (like her MacArthur Fellow), bassist Jason Roebke and drummer Tomas Fujiwara. Having played for more than a decade in each other’s bands and other settings, they enjoy the kind of heightened interaction you don’t often encounter. “A melodic improviser with a natural, flowing sense of song and an experimenter who can create heat and grit with the texture of sound” (New York Times), Reid has raised her game as a member of such bands as the newly constituted Art Ensemble of Chicago, Myra Melford’s Fire and Water Quartet, Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth Ensemble and the Artifacts Trio.

5:25-6:10pm – Billy Harper Quintet

It’s a momentous time for Billy Harper. Last year, the tenor great celebrated his 80th birthday. And earlier this year, he marked the 50th anniversary of both his quintet and his influential debut album, “Capra Black,” “a seminal recording of jazz’s black consciousness movement” (AllMusic). A native Texan, Harper has drawn meaningfully from his early experiences in the church and the spiritual expression of John Coltrane. It’s like “he’s praying on the bandstand,” drummer Billy Hart said. He has played with such legends as Art Blakey, Max Roach, Lee Morgan, Gil Evans and Randy Weston. Tonight, he’ll play his original compositions – an area in which he has never gotten his due – in the distinguished company of trumpeter Freddie Hendrix, pianist Francesca Tanksley, bassist Dezron Douglas and drummer Aaron Scott.

6:25-7:25pm – Charlie Sepúlveda & the Turnaround

As suggested by the title of his popular album, “This is Jazz,” trumpeter Charlie Sepúlveda is as strongly committed to the sounds of hard bop and swing as he is to the Latin sounds he was raised on – styles with ties to Puerto Rico including bomba, plena and danza. Born in the Bronx, where he performed in his cousin Eddie Palmieri’s band, Sepúlveda has for many years lived and taught in Puerto Rico, where he put together his long-running band the Turnaround. His sound on the horn is “miraculously melodious and songful” (Latin Jazz Network). And when his wife Natalia Mercado is featured on vocals, the music attains a soaring romantic intensity. The band also features pianist Emanuel Rivera, vibraphonist Jean Luis Treboux, bassist Gabriel Rodriguez, drummer Francisco Alcalá and congas player Gadwin Vargas.

7:45-9pm – Catherine Russell

One of the latest of late bloomers, singer Catherine Russell spent what for others would be a full career in a backup role, notably with David Bowie, before emerging as one of the best jazz and blues vocalists. She was 50 when she recorded her well-received debut, “Cat,” at a studio in Skokie. Since then, she has captured listeners with her crowd-pleasing style, releasing one praised album after another and contributing to projects including the soundtrack of HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” and the the Millennial Territory Orchestra’s “Good Time Music.” She is “the greatest of all contemporary blues singers,” wrote Will Friedwald in the Wall Street Journal. Tonight, she will deepen her Windy City ties with a band including brilliant pianist and Hammond B-3 organist and former Chicagoan Ben Paterson and guitarist and Green Mill regular Joel Paterson (no relation), Israeli-born bassist Tal Ronen and Portlander Domo Branch on drums.

WDCB JAZZ – LOUNGE LINE-UP

FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 2024 (South Promenade)

6:45-7:45pm – Bonzo Squad

4:30-6:15pm – The Bruce Henry Quintet

2:15-4pm – Calligram Records Showcase

12-1:45pm – Sanctified Grumblers

2024 CHICAGO JAZZ FESTIVAL SATURDAY AUGUST 31, 2024 | FULL SCHEDULE

Harris Theater Rooftop

Young Lions Jazz

11am – Whitney Young Jazz Combo

11:50am – Midwest Young Artists Conservatory Combo

12:40pm – ChiArts Combo A

1:35pm – Lincoln Park High School Jazz Band

2:25pm – Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage

3:15pm – Kenwood Academy High School Jazz Band

Von Freeman Stage (North Promenade)

11:30am-12:25pm – Windy City Ramblers Brass Band What better way to ease – make that shuffle – into the day than with the Windy City Ramblers? The rambunctious ensemble, which devotes itself to inspiring and uplifting young people, is an ongoing lesson in style in bridging the traditional and second line music of New Orleans and the sounds of Chicago. Five

trombonists strong – Royce Harrington Turner, Pete Isaac Charles, Norman Palm, Jacob Slocum and Dan Merlo – the band

12:40-1:35pm – Leslie Beukelman & Jeremy Kahn’s “Tonight (At Noon)” Charles Mingus and Leonard Bernstein: Not one of the first artistic pairings that comes to mind. But as they demonstrate on their intriguing 2022 album, “Tonight (At Noon),” the creative team of singer Leslie Beukelman and pianist Jeremy Kahn makes a case for the ties between classically attuned jazz giant Mingus and jazz-loving classical idol Bernstein. Among the tunes they’ll draw from are Mingus classics “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” and “Weird Nightmare” and Bernstein’s early composition “Big Stuff,” written for Billie Holiday, plus tunes from “West Side Story.’ Joining in the fun will be bassist Larry Kohut and drummer Jon Deitemyer.

1:50-2:45pm – Mike Ross Quartet Guitarist and singer Mike Ross has a broad musical background that includes writing for the stage at the Goodman Theater and Shubert Theater, touring with “The Wiz,” performing an original tribute to Nat King Cole at the Northlight Theater and touring with artists including Wayne Newton(!), Ramsey Lewis, Ronnie Laws and Angela Bofill. His smooth jazz album, “Four Seasons to Cross,” recorded during the pandemic, reflects on its impact. Today, he’ll lead a quartet including bassist Ron Hall, keyboardist Roger Harris and drummer Malcolm Banks.

3-4pm – James Brandon Lewis Quartet

The rapid emergence of 41-year-oldtenor saxophonist James BrandonLewis has been one of the best recent stories in jazz. His deep sound on tenor, hard-edged but agile, has wowed none other than tenor giant Sonny Rollins. As he demonstrated on his Red Lily Quintet’s 2021

masterpiece, “Jesup Wagon,” and recent gem, “For Mahalia, With

Love,” Lewis is a deep conceptualist, speaking volumes about where jazz is going while providing insightful lessons on where it’s been. Known to the pop

audience through his collaboration with punk’s Messthetics, he will today

lead his long-running quartet featuring pianist Aruan Ortiz, bassist Bradley Jones and drummer Chad Taylor, a former Chicagoan with his own distinctive New York-based band.

Jay Pritzker Pavilion

4:15-5:05pm – Dennis Carroll For years one of the go-to bass players in the city, Dennis Carroll has lent distinction to the bands of artists including Bobby Broom, Ron Blake, Pharez Whitted and Pat through his impeccable time-keeping and deep, melodious sense of swing. He’s all but immune to the blindfold tests: The

moment you hear his tones, you know who’s playing. Today, he gets to do what he doesn’t do nearly enough – lead his own band

5:25-6:10pm – Jeff Parker and New Breed

Since first making his mark in Chicago with Ernest Dawkins’ New Horizons Ensemble, guitarist Jeff Parker has brought to jazz and related forms a

unique inside/outside approach, lyrical restraint and sheer moxie in bridging bop and hip-hop and everything in between. A key contributor to projects by artists including Makaya McCraven, Meshell Ndegeocello and Rob Mazurek, he still may be best known by some for his work with the “post-rock” band Tortoise. But Parker, who moved to Los Angeles a decade ago, has made his most essential music with his atmospheric trio and soulful crossover unit New Breed. His set today with New Breed – Josh Johnson on alto saxophone and keyboards, Paul Bryan on bass and synthesizer and Jeremy Cunningham on drums and sampler – will include songs from his acclaimed 2020 album “Suite for Max Brown.”

6:25-7:25pm – René Marie & Experiment In Truth

There are many terrific jazz singers currently at work, but few that transcend the form and break new ground. René Marie is one of them. “Her torch burns hotter and oft-times brighter than any of her peers,” wrote one critic. A prolific songwriter, Marie didn’t begin singing professionally until she was in her early forties. Her albums on Maxjazz, including “How Can I Keep from Singing” and “Vertigo,” helped put that fledgling label on the map. As fearless as she is fluent, she brings new insight to the sounds of influences including Betty Carter, Dinah Washington and Ella Fitzgerald and was nominated for a Grammy for her welcome tribute to Eartha Kitt, “I Wanna Be Evil.” The truth referenced in the name of her band, including drummer and music director Quentin E. Baxter of the popular Gullah-inspired group Ranky Tanky, can be political as well as personal. Long may this experiment run!

7:45-9pm – Kenny Garrett and Sounds From The Ancestors Based on his exceptional skills on saxophone alone, Kenny Garrett ranks as one of the top artists of his generation. Praised in the New York Times as “poised, fast and deft on alto saxophone,” with an “ironbound” sense of timing, he has been widely praised for his inspired embrace of John Coltrane, his onetime boss Art Blakey and jazz-funk. But the 60-year- old artist, a 2023 NEA Jazz Master,

has never rested on his laurels moving boldly from concept to concept and style to style. His 2006 recording, “Beyond the Wall,” was billed as “a musical and spiritual exploration of the connections between China and Africa.” Earlier this year, he released his first electronic album, “Who Killed AI?,” inspired by Andre 3000’s flute project, “New Blue Sun,” and the music of onetime boss Miles Davis. Tonight, he’ll revisit “Sounds from the Ancestors,” his acclaimed 2021

album, on which he celebrates the broad influence of West African and Caribbean sounds. He’ll lead a sextet including pianist Keith Brown, bassist Jeremiah Edwards, drummer Michael Ode, percussionist Rudolph Bird and vocalist Melvis Santa.

WDCB JAZZ – LOUNGE LINE-UP

SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 2024 (South Promenade)

6:45-7:45pm – Soul Message Band

4:30-6:15pm – Lynne Jordan & the Shivers

2:15-4pm – Charles Heath Quartet

12:00-1:45pm – Samuel Mosching Quintet

2024 CHICAGO JAZZ FESTIVAL SUNDAY | September 1, 2024 | Full Schedule

Harris Theater Rooftop

Young Lions Jazz

11-11:45am – Alfie Jackson Quartet

12-12:45pm – Brandon Harper & Friends

1-1:45pm – The Isabella Isherwood Quintet

2-2:45pm – Alejandro Salazar and the Afro Cuban Exchange

3-3:50pm – Jeremiah Collier and the REUP Band

Von Freeman Stage (North Promenade)

11:30am-12:25pm – Mai Sugimoto Double Alto Quartet

For her latest of several appearances at the festival, the always engagingalto saxophonist (and flutist) Mai Sugimoto will lead her working band, which teams her with altoist (and soprano saxist) Fred Jackson Jr. and features bassist Ethan Philion and drummer Isaiah Spencer. Her prominence on the local scene

has grown and grown through her assortment of projects including her 2021 solo album, “Monologue,” her 2024 trio album “Sunlight Filtering Through Leaves” and her contributions to such bands as Hanami and Joshua Abrams’ Natural Information Society. It has been fun and rewarding watching her personalize such influences as Ornette Coleman and traditional Japanese music.

12:40-1:35pm – Sharel Cassity Alliance

Alto and soprano saxophonist Sharel Cassity devotes herself to shining a light on women who perform music that “is directly out of the jazz lineage and language of the jazz masters.” Not that she limits herself to jazz tradition. On her 2018 album, “Evolve,” she covered songs by Bjork and Alicia Keys and got funky. But she is most at home plying her deep bop-to-soul sound, whether playing lead alto with the Diva Jazz Orchestra, as she did for seven years, or bonding with top Chicago reedists Greg Ward and Rajiv Harlem on the 2021 album “Altoizm.” Today, her band will feature pianist Hannah Mayer and bassist Carmi Edwards.

1:50-2:45pm – Charlie Johnson Quartet The veteran pianist, fresh off a performance with the South Side All-Stars, leads his quartet.

3-4pm – Jason Palmer Quartet Perhaps because he has settled so deeply and so well into his adopted city of Boston, where his quintet held forth for 20 years at Wally’s Jazz Cafe, trumpeter and North Carolina native Jason Palmer doesn’t have the national recognition he deserves. But with terrific albums like “Live from Summit Rock in Seneca Village” and memorable contributions to recordings including Mark Turner’s “Return from the Stars,” he’s made his case as an essential artist. Earlier this year, he brought his taut, melliflous sound to Bennett Gordon Hall as part of the Ravinia on Tour program. Today, he’ll make his first appearance at the festival as a leader, accompanied by tenor saxophonist Gregory Groover Jr., bassist Max Ridley and drummer Lee Fish.

Jay Pritzker Pavilion

4:15-5:05pm – Clif Wallace Big Band The seasoned drummer, a man of many formats who has played with

such notables as Victor Goines, Tammy McCann, Bobby Broom, Dee Bridgewater and the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, leads his big band.

5:25-6:10pm – Eddie Henderson Quintet

Forgive the cliche, but if anyone deserves to be called a “musician’s

musician,” it’s the effortlessly wide-ranging trumpeter Eddie Henderson. During his 50-plus years in jazz – he took several years off as a practicing physician – he has run a gamut of styles ranging from hard bop to fusion (he was a stalwart in Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi) to crossover sounds and back again. In recent years, Henderson has added to his laurels as a member of the popular post- bop super group the Cookers, whose members include his crony of more than four decades, the impeccable pianist George Cables. Henderson’s sterling reputation among musicians is reflected in the all-star composition of his quintet, which in addition to Cables features the great alto saxophonist (and fellow Jazz Messengers alumnus) Donald Harrison, bassist Gerald Cannon and drummer Mike Clark.

6:25-7:25pm – Orrin Evans Quartet

Will the real Orrin Evans please stand up? Is he the large ensemble artist who leads the Grammy-nominated, Mingus-influenced Captain Black Big Band? The pianist who replaced Ethan Iverson in the Bad Plus and helped take that pop-loving band in a new direction before moving on? Or the co-leader of the collective trio Tarbaby? Well, of course, he is all of those artists, and more. But however varied the setting, the Philadelphia-based Evans’ own voice shines through in his pursuit of deeper meaning – musical, collaborative, spiritual. Backed tonight by rising alto saxophonist Caleb Wheeler Curtis, veteran bassist Robert Hurst and drummer Mark Whitfield II, he will continue on that quest, taking us with him.

7:45-9pm- Spanish Harlem Orchestra As is now tradition, the Chicago Jazz Festival concludes with a blast of Latin music, this time delivered by the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, “the leading light of the salsa reconstruction movement” (Newsday). Under the direction of pianist and arranger Oscar Hernández, the band has over 24 years racked up five Grammy nominations and three Grammy wins. It’s an ensemble that is deeply committed to the classic salsa recorded for the Fania label as well as Latin jazz (hear its 2020 album, “The Latin Jazz Project”). Hernandez, who has played and/or recorded with legends including Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Ray Barretto and Ruben Blades, and was music director for Paul Simon’s musical, “The Capeman,” will lead a charged band including Marco Bermudez, Jeremy Dejesus and Carlos Cascante on vocals; Mitchel Frohman on saxophone and flute; Douglas Beavers and Juan Lakunza on trombone; Manuel Ruiz and Alex Norris on trumpet; Gerardo Madera on bass, and George Delgado, Oreste Abrantes and Luis Quintero on percussion.

WDCB JAZZ – LOUNGE LINE-UP

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2024 (South Promenade)

6:45-7:45pm – Juli Wood’s “Natalies Wood plays Roland Kirk”

4:30-6:15pm – Alexander McLean Project

2:15-4pm – Ernest Dawkins Quintet

12-1:45pm – Bethany Pickens Soulful Coalition

https://www.chicagojazz.com/post/chicago-jazz-festival-

Sun Rooms is Jason Adasiewicz’s three year old trio featuring Jason (vibraphone), Mike Reed (drums) and Nate McBride (bass). Their debut record Sun Rooms (Delmark 593) was named by the New York Times (Ben Ratliff) as one of the Top 10 Pop and Jazz Records of 2010. Spacer was written in the winter of 2011 and slowly shaped through a month long residency at a north side Chicago bar, The Whistler. Engineered by Griffin Rodriguez, Spacerdocuments 8 new tunes by Adasiewicz, one from McBride, and one from Dutch cornetist Eric Boeren.

Jeff Parker Trio – Bright Light In Winter

$15.99

Description

Jeff Parker Trio – Bright Light In Winter
Delmark DE 2015
Compact Disc (2012)

Bright Light In Winter is the long-awaited third album by Chicago guitarist Jeff Parker. With his associates Chris Lopes (bass) and Chad Taylor (drums), this trio continues their examination of our post-modern musical universe via tuneful compositions by all three members, and an elastic, dynamic approach to improvisation and group interplay – rooted in our familiar musical traditions, but also searching for the new ones. Recorded and mixed by Bundy K. Brown. Also available: Jeff Parker – Like-Coping (Delmark 543) with Chris Lopes and Chad Taylor. “Jeff Parker is arguably the most exciting and thoughtful jazz guitarist of the past two decades, a masterful free improviser who’s also fluent in everything from postbop to postrock.” -Chicago Reader.