Dee Alexander, Jason Roebke, Rob Mazurek, Geof Bradfield, Bobby Broom, Joshua Abrams, Ari Brown< Jeff Parker, and much more!

The 2024 hyde park jazz festival is almost here! the hyde park jazz festival is free. we ask that attendees consider a $10 donation to keep it that way!

2024 Hyde Park Jazz Festival Artists

Bobby Broom Trio

saturday, september 28

TIME: 4:00-5:00pm

VENUE: dusable museum. 740 East 56th pl.

Bobby Broom

Guitar great Bobby Broom fell in love with the jazz organ at age 10, when he put on an album his father had brought home: Charles Earland’s Black Talk! When Earland moved to Chicago in the late 80s, there was no doubt in Broom’s mind who his guitarist had to be. The dream gig became a reality, and Broom went on to play not only with Earland but also with other Hammond B-3 masters including Jimmy McGriff, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Melvin Rhyne, and, once, the king of them all, Jimmy Smith. But he made his strongest mark with his own organ groups: first the Deep Blue Organ Trio, a Chicago collective featuring Chris Foreman that lasted 25 years, and then its ongoing successor, the Bobby Broom Organi-Sation, featuring B-3 whiz Ben Paterson. 

Broom was born in Harlem and raised on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. He began studying guitar at age 12, concentrating on jazz under the aegis of Jimmy Carter. At 16, chaperoned by Weldon Irvine to an East Side jazz club for the purpose of learning to sit in, Broom was invited by Al Haig, pianist for Charlie Parker, first to join in for a couple of tunes and eventually to play with Haig at Gregory’s on the Upper East Side, where he got to play with another notable Bird keyboardist, Walter Bishop, Jr. Soon, he was pursued by an even greater jazz legend, Sonny Rollins, who invited him to perform with him at a Carnegie Hall concert, initiating a long musical relationship that would eventually result in a six-year stint for Broom as a member of Rollins’s band. 

Broom’s first two albums were Clean Sweep (1981) and Livin’ for the Beat (1984), pre-smooth-jazz efforts that transcended the limitations (and sometimes harsh criticisms) of that category. While maintaining ties with New York groups including Kenny Burrell’s Jazz Guitar Band, followed by a jaunt with Miles Davis’ group, and then a six-year stint with Dr. John, in 1984 Broom moved to Chicago, where he hooked up with Windy City-based artists Charles Earland, Ron Blake, and Eric Alexander before setting out to establish himself as an important artist in his own right. He recorded two mainstream albums, No Hype Blues (1995, with pianist Ron Perrillo) and Waitin’ and Waitin’ (1997, with Ron Blake). Beginning with Stand! (2001), he brought a serious improvisational jazz sensibility to pop classics such as Sly and the Family Stone’s title song and the Mamas and the Papas’ “Monday, Monday.” 

Holding a B.A. in music from Columbia College and an M.A. in jazz pedagogy from Northwestern University, Broom is a tenured Associate Professor of Jazz Guitar and Jazz Studies at Northern Illinois University and has taught at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music, DePaul University, Roosevelt University, and the American Conservatory of Music. He has also instructed music students in public high schools throughout Chicago as part of a jazz mentoring program sponsored by the Ravinia Festival Organization and has been an instructor and mentor with the Herbie Hancock Institute. 

The musicians:

Bobby Broom — guitar
Dennis Carroll — bass
Kobie Watkins — drums

Geof Bradfield & Colossal Abundance

saturday, september 28

TIME: 2:00pm-3:00pm

VENUE: hyde park union church. 5600 south woodlawn Ave.

Geof Bradfield

Geof Bradfield’s work as a composer and performer on saxophones and clarinets embraces intersections of modern jazz and other streams of African Diaspora music, drawing inspiration from Charlie Parker, Melba Liston, Lead Belly, Shona mbira music, and Gullah spirituals. 

His latest body of work, Colossal Abundance, explores manifestations of symmetry—rhythmic, formal, and symbolic—in those traditions as well as in the music of Messiaen, Bartok, and other European composers. Colossal Abundance is simultaneously a meditation on the juxtaposition of wealth—material, intellectual, and spiritual—with poverty that plagues modern society. This world premier expands upon Bradfield’s critically acclaimed 2017 release, Yes, and… music for nine improvisers, which Nate Chinen described as “an album of chamber-esque color and oft-surprising texture.” Colossal Abundance is made possible in part through an Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship and an Esteemed Artist Award from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.

Born in Houston, Bradfield has performed throughout North America, Europe, Russia, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, sharing the stage with artists including Randy Weston, Dana Hall, Clark Sommers, Brian Blade, Anna Webber, Orrin Evans, Jeff Parker, Matt Ulery, and Ryan Cohan. His work is featured on more than fifty albums, including, as a leader, eight that have garnered critical accolades from The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and NPR. The Downbeat Critics Poll has named him a Rising Star Tenor Saxophonist and Arranger multiple times, and he has received grants and awards from Chamber Music America, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, DCASE, Illinois Arts Council, and the Mellon Foundation. He is a Professor of Jazz Studies at Northern Illinois University.

The musicians:

Geof Bradfield — tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, mbira
Greg Ward — alto saxophone
Anna Webber — flute, bass flute, tenor saxophone
Ben Goldberg — clarinet, contra alto clarinet
Derrick Gardner — trumpet
Russ Johnson — trumpet
Momo Hasselbring Seko — french horn
Norman Palm — trombone
Scott Hesse — guitar
Clark Sommers — bass
Greg Beyer — marimba, berimbau, mbira
Dana Hall — drums and cymbals

Jason Roebke Quartet

saturday, september 28

TIME: 2:00pm-3:00pm

VENUE: logan center performance penthouse. 915 east 60th st.

Jason Roebke

The diversity of Jason Roebke’s musical associations make him one of the most sought-after bassists, composers, and educators in Chicago and beyond. He composes music that is rooted in jazz, takes inspiration from experimental music, noise, and improvisation, and is extreme in its pairing of silence and explosive gestures. Solo performance and a duo with dancer Ayako Kato are also at the forefront of his creative activities. As a double bassist, Roebke’s playing is intensely physical, audacious, and sparse. He studied privately with saxophonist and composer Roscoe Mitchell as well as with legendary double bass pedagogue Stuart Sankey. In 2009, he was awarded the Fellowship in Music Composition from the Illinois Arts Council. He tours widely in the U.S. and Europe.

Edward L. Wilkerson, Jr. is an internationally recognized American jazz composer, arranger, musician, and educator based in Chicago. As founder and director of the cutting-edge octet 8 Bold Souls and the 25-member performance ensemble Shadow Vignettes, Wilkerson has toured festivals and concert halls throughout the U.S., Europe, Japan, and the Middle East. As one of the great saxophone and clarinet players on the Chicago scene from the 1980s and into the new millennium, Wilkerson may be best known as a composer and bandleader. He has also been a major presence in Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), teaching composition at the organization’s music school and serving for a time as AACM president.

Marcus Evans is a drummer and composer who has worked with many of Chicago’s top jazz musicians, including Greg Ward, Nicole Mitchell, Isaiah Collier, and David Boykin.

Pianist Mabel Kwan is a founding member of Ensemble Dal Niente. She tours with improvised music group Restroy, synthesizer duo Mega Laverne and Shirley, and electronic/instrumental trio Uluuul. She is a 2018 High Concept Labs Artist and 2017 3Arts Awardee and is recognized for her work in classical, improvised, and experimental music. Her self-produced work is a meditation on sound, contradictions, and our perceptions of what is familiar or strange. Her 2016 debut solo album, one poetic switch, features works written for her on piano and clavichord. She has also released a solo clavichord album (2016) in collaboration with composer Danny Clay and artist Andrew Barco, and the premiere recording of the complete Trois Hommages by Georg Friedrich Haas (2018), among others.

The musicians:

Jason Roebke – bass, cassette
Edward Wilkerson Jr. – saxophone, clarinet, cassette
Mabel Kwan – piano, cassette
Marcus Evans – drums, cassette

the makanda project featuring Dee Alexander

saturday, september 28

TIME: 9:30PM-10:30pm

VENUE: logan center performance hall. 915 east 60th st.

The Makanda Project Featuring Dee Alexander

The Makanda Project, based in Boston, was started in 2005 to explore the previously unrecorded compositions of Makanda Ken McIntyre (1931-2001). Dr. McIntyre, who also made major contributions as a multi-instrumentalist and educator, was a prolific composer with a distinctive voice and a unique gift for doing unexpected things with very musical results. He recorded 75 of his compositions and upon his passing, another 350 were found that had never been recorded or, in most cases, even performed in public. Makanda Project leader and pianist John Kordalewski, a former McIntyre student (who also recently appeared at the Logan Center in Chicago as arranger and conductor for the Chico Freeman Orchestra), has arranged over 60 of these pieces for the group’s 10-member horn section, and this music is the core of the group’s repertoire. The members of the group include several noted Boston-area bandleaders as well as top-level musicians from New York and New England.

Given that there is no record of Dr. McIntyre having performed these compositions, the Makanda Project differs from “tribute bands” whose performances are inevitably compared with original recordings. Rather, the McIntyre compositions have served as a vehicle for the group to develop its own sound and identity. 

In addition to touring, the group has maintained a community focus and established a presence on the Boston jazz scene through their ongoing series of self-produced free concerts. They have also developed collaborations with renowned musicians including Oliver Lake, Chico Freeman, Ricky Ford, Craig Harris, Michael Gregory Jackson, and Feya Faku, who have joined the group as guest artists, performing some of their own compositions as well as McIntyre pieces. 

Dee Alexander, a Chicagoan of the Year in Jazz awardee and one of Chicago’s most gifted and respected vocalists and songwriters, first performed with the Makanda Project in Boston in 2022 and has made annual visits since. Alexander’s talents span every music genre, from gospel to R&B, blues to neo-soul. She is one of the most accomplished voice improvisers in the world today, boasting long and fruitful associations with members of Chicago’s jazz elite including Ramsey Lewis, Orbert Davis, Nicole Mitchelle, the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Working with someone with her artistic sensibilities and range of vocal abilities has enabled The Makanda Project to explore new horizons and continue to grow.

The Hyde Park Jazz Festival performance program will include compositions by Dee Alexander, newly orchestrated for the large ensemble, along with McIntyre pieces from the group’s repertoire. It will include songs with lyrics, improvised solos within the unique forms of Dr. McIntyre’s compositions, free improvisation, and use of the voice as a color within the horn section.

The musicians:

Dee Alexander – voice
Kurtis Rivers – alto saxophone
Rajiv Halim – alto and soprano saxophone, flute
Sean Berry – tenor saxophone
Temidayo Balogun – tenor saxophone
Charlie Kohlhase – baritone saxophone
Jerry Sabatini – trumpet
Haneef Nelson – trumpet
Alfred Patterson – trombone
Richard Harper – trombone
Bill Lowe – bass trombone
John Kordalewski – piano
Avery Sharpe – bass
Yoron Israel – drums

Natural Information Society Community ensemble with Ari Brown

saturday, september 28

TIME: 9:30pm-10:30pm

VENUE: international House. 1414 east 59th st.

Natural Information Society Community ensemble with Ari Brown

Since Time Is Gravity, credited to Natural Information Society Community Ensemble with Ari Brown, presents a newly expanded manifestation of acclaimed composer and multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams’ nearly 15-year, 7-albums-and-counting ensemble. Of the album, Stuart Broomer writes, “Since first developing Natural Information Society (NIS) in 2010, Joshua Abrams has been gradually expanding the group’s conceptual underpinnings, its musical references, and the sheer number of the group’s members. Its music is, in a sense, an expansive form of minimalism, based in repeated and overlaid rhythmic patterns, ostinatos, and modality. Its roots, its scale, and its meaning become clearer in time. If time is gravity, it also allows us to carry more. Having begun as fundamentally a rhythm section with Abrams’ guimbri at its core, the version here can stretch to a tentet, including six horns.” 

Since Time Is Gravity has received critical recognition, including Mojo Magazine‘s #1 Underground Album 2023, Pitchfork’s 30 Best Jazz and Experimental Albums 2023, The Wire 2023 Rewind 50 Top Releases (All Genres), and The Boston Globe‘s 50 Favorite Albums 2023. NIS has performed at the Berlin Jazz Festival (2023); Constellation Chicago (2022, 2023); Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville, Canada (2024); Guelph Jazz Festival, Canada (2022); Millennium Park (2021); Pioneer Works, Brooklyn (2023); and Pitchfork.

The musicians:

Joshua Abrams — guimbri, composition
Lisa Alvarado — harmonium, stage setting
Mikel Patrick Avery – drums
Josh Berman – cornet
Ari Brown — tenor saxophone
Ben LaMar Gay – cornet
Nick Mazzarella — alto saxophone
Jason Stein — bass clarinet
Mai Sugimoto — flute, alto saxophone

Rob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra Live at the Adler Planetarium (film)

saturday, september 28

TIME: 2:00pm-3:00pm

VENUE: Logan Center Screening room. 915 E 60th Street

Rob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra Live at the Adler Planetarium (film)

On March 24 of last year, Rob Mazurek’s Exploding Star Orchestra used Chicago’s Adler Planetarium as a launch pad for a multimedia spectacle that broadcast a transcendental message to the cosmos. This video documents this singular performance, which featured original images by Mazurek projected onto the planetarium’s domed ceiling and the Orchestra’s hypnotic interpretations of music from the most recent Exploding Star Orchestra album, Lightning Dreamers (International Anthem, released 2024).

Rob Mazurek – director, trumpets, bells, voice, compositions

Nicole Mitchell – flute, voice, electronics

Damon Locks – voice, samplers, electronics

Tomeka Reid – cello, electronics

Craig Taborn – Wurlitzer electric piano, moog, electronics

Angelica Sanchez – Wurlitzer electric piano, Moog

Ingebrigt Håker Flaten – bass

Chad Taylor- drums

Gerald Cleaver- drums

Recorded Live in the Grainger Sky Theater of Adler Planetarium, Chicago, March 24th, 2023.

Video images by Rob Mazurek with technical assistance from Mathieu Constans and Brian Ashby.

Video directed by Brian Ashby

Produced by Experimental Sound Studio & International Anthem

The Wherewithal

saturday, september 28

TIME: 2:00pm-3:00pm

VENUE: dusable museum. 740 east 56th pl.

The WHEREWITHAL

Raised in a close-knit community on the west side of Chicago, Justin Dillard attended both Vandercook College of Music and The Velvet Lounge as institutions of higher learning. He has performed with, recorded with, and/or received tutelage from the likes of Branford Marsalis, Ornette Coleman, Dionne Warwick, Fred Anderson, NEA jazz master Von Freeman, and Roscoe Mitchell. 

Of Dillard, the Chicago Tribune had this to say: “A new generation of jazz improvisers has emerged in Chicago in recent years, but few are more promising than pianist Justin Dillard. Musically, Dillard tends to be all over the keyboard, drawing upon the examples of virtuosos such as Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Oscar Peterson, and McCoy Tyner. But there’s something more to Dillard’s work as well—a quest for new ideas in music, in the manner of his AACM mentors.”

Dillard has been a Hammond Organ-endorsed artist for fifteen years. He has performed on national television with his organ trio, The DOT. He continues to transform his career by composing for and performing with his vast array of ensembles while continuing to accompany great musicians all over the world.

A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Jeremy Clemons attended North Carolina Central University, where he studied drums set, harmony, jazz theory, arranging, and composition under the guidance of Ira Wiggins, Arnold George, and Thomas Taylor, all of whom influenced his current concept and approach to music. With the NCCU Jazz Ensemble, he performed at venues including the Carolina, Grady Tate, Montreux, and Vienne Jazz Festivals.

After graduation, he returned to St. Louis, where he became Assistant Band Director at Normandy High School and worked the local music scene as both sideman and bandleader. He has taught at the International Summer Jazz Academy in Poland, been a member of the Betty Cater Jazz Ahead program, and performed in the Steans Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival. 

He is currently co-leading the band Soul Understated with award-winning vocalist/composer Mavis “Swan” Poole. The band features a diverse and eclectic mix of musical forces and allows Clemons to display his talents not only as a drummer but also as a bandleader, composer, and producer.

Jeff Parker is known to many fans as the longtime guitarist for the Chicago-based quintet Tortoise, one of the most critically revered, sonically adventurous groups to emerge from the American indie scene of the early 90s. The band’s often hypnotic, largely instrumental sound eludes easy definition, drawing freely from rock, jazz, electronic, and avant-garde music, and over the last nearly-thirty years, it has garnered a large following.

Aside from recording and touring with Tortoise, Parker has worked as a side man with many jazz greats, including Nonesuch labelmate Joshua Redman on his 2005 Momentum album; as a studio collaborator with other composer-musicians including Brian Blade, Meshell Ndegeocello, and fellow International Anthem artists Makaya McCraven and Rob Mazurek; and as a solo artist. Suite for Max Brown is informally a companion piece to The New Breed, Parker’s 2016 album on International Anthem, which London’s Observer honored as its Best Jazz Album of the Year, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times included on their Best Albums of 2016 lists; and recently, Aquarium Drunkard included as part of their Best Albums of the Decade (2010-2019) compendium.

“No other musician in the modern era has moved so seamlessly between rock and jazz like Jeff Parker,” says The Observer. “As guitarist for Chicago post-rock icons Tortoise, he’s taken the group in new and challenging directions that have kept them at the forefront of pop creativity for the last twenty years. As of late, however, Parker has established himself as one of the most formidable solo talents in modern jazz.”

The musicians:

Justin Dillard — Hammond B-3 organ
Jeff Parker — guitar
Jeremy Clemons — drums