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Entries associated with the tag "Chicago Jazz Festival":August 29th - 1:43 p.m.
Most of the afterfest activities around town this Jazz Festival weekend are jam sessions or sets from locals hoping to attract listeners still hungry for music after the main event wraps up for the night. But on Saturday at 10 PM the Hungry Brain hosts a killer double bill that would be notable any night of the year. Brilliant Dutch pianist Misha Mengelberg, coleader of the ICP Orchestra (which plays the fest Sunday night), opens the show with a rare solo performance. The circuslike atmosphere of a typical ICP performance, where the emphasis is on playful collective give-and-take, sometimes makes it hard to fully appreciate his imagination, skill, and command of jazz history, but Mengelberg, who turned 73 in June, has absorbed the lessons of Ellington, Monk, and Herbie Nichols like few other pianists. Both his slightly cranky, unkempt persona and his blase demeanor at the bench belie the subtle genius of his playing. When I've caught him solo before, he's seemed to have no idea where he's headed at first, tentatively striking some keys, but within minutes an improvisation guided by sharp logic has taken shape. That shape is always thoughtfully structured and always different, and that's part of his singular appeal. Following Mengelberg's set wonderful drummer Gerald Cleaver (pictured) will lead his group the Violet Hour (no relation to the Wicker Park cocktail bar of the same name) in its Chicago debut. Like keyboardist Craig Taborn, a fellow Detroit native, Cleaver is a selfless musician who improves any group he works with, and he's worked with an impressively wide variety. He's collaborated extensively with Taborn, Roscoe Mitchell, Matthew Shipp, Joe Morris, Lotte Anker, and Liberty Ellman, among many others. I recently heard him in Lisbon with pianist Sylvie Courvoisier's superb Lonelyville band, and his careful, evocative texture-based playing gave the classical-flavored music an elegant pulse and heightened its drama. Despite a lengthy discography, Cleaver has only cut two albums as a leader; this Saturday his group will focus on material from the most recent, Gerald Cleaver's Detroit (Fresh Sound New Talent). In this context he wears his hard-swinging postbop hat, and he's got an excellent lineup to elucidate his tunes' graceful melodies and pungent, carefully wrought harmonies: pianist Ben Waltzer, bassist Chris Lightcap, reedists Andrew Bishop and J.D. Allen, and the trumpeter Jeremy Pelt (who's not touring with the group). In other contexts Cleaver excels at creating different kinds of opposition: timbre versus groove, melody versus melody, chaos versus calm--but here he functions mostly as a propulsive timekeeper and elegant composer. In fact, he sits out entirely on the lovely Monkish ballad "Grateful," a duo by Waltzer and Bishop. I'm particularly excited to hear tenorist Allen in the flesh. Earlier this year the Detroit native released the trio set I Am I Am (Sunnyside), and so far it's one of my favorite albums of 2008. Ably supported by bassist Gregg August and drummer Rudy Royston, Allen swings like a motherfucker, and his skill at embroidering his pithy postbop themes when he solos brings to mind the master, Sonny Rollins. It's a lean outing, even by sax-trio standards, but it's not minimalist. Succinct, deliberate, and hard-charging, Allen knows how to trim down his improvisations till they're nothing but meat. Today's playlist: John Anderson, Eye of a Hurricane (Collector's Choice/Warner Brothers) August 22nd - 1:07 p.m.
The Chicago Jazz Festival doesn't officially begin till Thursday, August 28, when Sonny Rollins plays a free show at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, but in recent years the Jazz Institute of Chicago, which programs the fest, has organized concerts in the days preceding the big blowout. On Monday night Mike Reed's People, Places & Things plays a free show in Millennium Park and on Wednesday there's a jazz-club tour. On Tuesday night the JIC presents an odd but intriguing benefit concert at the UIC Forum. Led by saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis and trombonist Fred Wesley, both veterans of the Famous Flames, it's an homage to their old boss called The Soul of Jazz: The African Tribute to James Brown. I'm not sure how much sense the "African" part makes--Malian singer-guitarist Vieux Farka Toure and Senegalese singer-percussionist Cheikh Lo are both participating, but I can't hear much of a connection between their music and Brown's. That's not to say I don't welcome their presence--though Toure has played in town frequently in the past year or so (and will be back for Chicago's upcoming World Music Festival), a visit from Lo is a rare treat. The other prominent contributor is jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove (pictured), who seems a little more at home on the bill--funk is part of his DNA, and he's often incorporated it into his work. Hargrove recently released a fine album called Earfood (Emarcy), a back-to-basics quintet outing with his young, fertile band that captures him doing what he does best--straight-ahead postbop. He's spent much of the last decade pursuing stylistically diverse projects, from Cuban music to neosoul, so it's nice to hear him recommit himself to his roots. Chicago trumpeter Corey Wilkes and his band Black Slang, abetted here by three dancers, will open the concert. Through Monday, tickets are available at a ten-dollar discount if you use the code word "soul" at ticketmaster.com. Today's playlist: February 28th - 2:05 p.m.
The Mayor's Office of Special Events has announced some of the highlights of this summer's Chicago Jazz Festival, which runs from August 28 to 31. It's the fest's 30th year, and to acknowledge this milestone the Jazz Institute of Chicago seems to be trying to book an extra-special lineup. Saxophonists Sonny Rollins (pictured) and Ornette Coleman, arguably the two greatest living artists who were active in the bebop era, are among the headliners, and Chicago's own Edward Wilkerson Jr. will be the artist in residence. Additionally pianist Vijay Iyer, trumpeter Dave Douglas, arranger and pianist Gerald Wilson, and Chicago trombonist T.S. Galloway (who's currently based in Amsterdam) have been commissioned to write new pieces for the festival. Today's playlist: Lightning Dust, Lightning Dust (Jagjaguwar) June 7th - 4:06 p.m.
On Friday the Chicago City Arts Gallery opens a new group exhibition called “The Music Show.” I’m only familiar with two of the artists: local photographer Lauren Deutsch, also executive director of the Jazz Institute of Chicago, who's long been chronicling jazz performances in the city, snapping some of the most beautiful shots of musicians I’ve ever seen. And trumpeter Bill Dixon, one of the most original individuals jazz has ever produced, who's also an accomplished visual artist. Also in the show are Ann Ponce, James Conley, and Beatriz Ledesma. There’s an opening reception on Friday from 4:30-8:30 and pianist Fred Simon will give a solo performance at 7 PM. But the real highlight of the exhibit might arrive when the show closes on July 11. Dixon will give his first ever performance in the city, joined by reedist Ken Vandermark, bassist Josh Abrams, and percussionist Michael Zerang. Ticket information hasn’t been announced yet, but this will be a special event. Even better, Dixon has also been confirmed for this year’s Chicago Jazz Festival, where he’ll perform with Rob Mazurek’s Exploding Star Orchestra.
September 1st - 7:17 p.m.
Although it's traditionally overshadowed by the Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park, the annual African Festival of the Arts in Washington Park remains one of the season's most interesting events, largely serving the African-American community with a diverse array of music. Jazz, soul, hip-hop, funk, and African music are all amply represented by some of the leading names in each field, even if some of them are well past their peaks. Some of the highlights playing through the long weekend: A veritable who's who in jazz-flavored soul convenes on Saturday at 5 PM with a Dusty Groove-worthy set featuring vibist Roy Ayers, keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith, (not one but two) flutists Hubert Laws and Bobbi Humphrey, and vocalists Jon Lucien and Jean Carne. On Sunday the great alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson performs, while Monday features a Dizzy Gillespie ghost band with enough star power to rival anything in Grant Park this weekend--trumpeter Roy Hargrove, saxophonists Jimmy Heath, Gary Smulyan, and James Moody, and pianist Cyrus Chestnut, among others, will play some of the trumpet legend's classic tunes and arrangements. Zimbabwe's two greatest bandleaders play Sunday (Thomas Mapfumo) and Monday (Oliver Mtukudzi), while Puerto Rican plena revivalists Plena Libre and Congolese star Kanda Bongo Man both peform on Saturday. A roll call of local hip-hop talent, as well as some solid out-of-towners, play all weekend long: Detroit's Slum Village, old-school hero Kool Moe Dee, and Gang Starr MC Guru perform Saturday, Rhymefest headlines Sunday, and North Carolina's Little Brother closes things out on Monday. If that isn't enough, George Clinton plays Sunday and the reconstituted Tony Toni Tone play Monday. You can find info about location, line-up, and tickets here. July 27th - 7:50 a.m.
With the Pitchfork Festival coming up this weekend (check out the Reader's official guide here) and Lollapalooza next, it's easy to forget that the two best city-sponsored fests are still on the horizon. The schedule for the annual Jazz Festival (which kicks off August 31) is up, and while the full line-up for September's World Music Festival: Chicago hasn't been officially announced, readers can get a strong sense of the performers by checking here, here, and here .
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