CHICAGO’S BEST

Chicago’s Hyde Park Jazz Fest Second To None

By Robert Thornton

Neighborhood festivals have become ambassadors of Chicago’s communities. They highlight the people and what the neighborhood has to offer. This weekend the Hyde Park community lays it all out. The 5^th annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival celebrates 2 days and 20 hours of FREE jazz on Saturday and Sunday, September 24 and 25. The Jazz Festival features over 150 of Chicago’s greatest jazz musicians. On Saturday the music will be heard throughout the historic Hyde Park neighborhood on 13 creative and unexpected, indoor and outdoor arts and culture venues. Sunday all performances will be on the James W. Wagner Main Stage on the Midway Plaisance South between Woodlawn and Ellis.

WHAT’S NEW at the Jazz Festival this year…?

1. Main Stage on the move – to the street in the Midway Plaisance South for a larger stage, better sound, and more seating (bring lawn chairs)
2. Expanded festival artisan and merchant vendors
3. More food and beverages on the Midway
4. Family Tent with special FREE programming and activities for the young jazz lovers near the main stage on the Midway on both Saturday and Sunday from 1 – 6:30pm.
5. The first Jazz Festival Artist-in-Residence – Geof Bradfield, a renowned composer, saxophone and woodwind performer, will lead an open rehearsal on September 21 and final performance on September 23, both at Kenwood Academy in Hyde Park. He will be working with both the Hyde Park School of Dance and the Kenwood Academy Jazz Band.
6. Reel Jazz Films – Take a walk down memory lane with some of the all-time greatest jazz artists. During the Jazz Fest at I-House watch 3 30-minute programs of rare jazz short films from the 1930s shown on 16mm film featuring Cab Calloway, Gene Krupa, Louis Armstrong, and more.

The first Hyde Park Jazz Festival, in September 2007, was created to bring new audiences into the many arts and cultural organizations in Hyde Park and to celebrate jazz’s great legacy and bright future on Chicago’s South Side. Over 5,000 jazz fans enjoyed 12 hours of free, nonstop jazz played inside many of Hyde Park’s museums, theaters, art centers and cultural venues as well as the James W. Wagner Main Stage performances on the Midway Plaisance on the University of Chicago campus. In only five years the Hyde Park Jazz Festival has established itself as one of the premier annual musical festivals in Chicago – named Best Neighborhood Music Festival by Chicago Magazine. This year the Jazz Fest expands to 2 days and 20 hours presenting Chicago’s greatest jazz musicians to an anticipated crowd of over 20,000 jazz lovers. The Hyde Park Jazz Festival is co-produced by the Hyde Park Alliance for Arts & Culture and the Hyde Park Jazz Society with Music Producer Carolyn Albritton. The event is made possible through the help of over 400 dedicated volunteers and Jazz Festival Committee and our generous funders and sponsors.

Saturday, September 24 performances will be performed throughout the Hyde Park neighborhood. Music will ring out from 13 different venues beginning at 1pm and with jazz played nonstop throughout the day, concluding with the Midnight Jam hosted by the fabulous Dee Alexander in Mandel Hall on the University of Chicago campus. Sunday, September 25th, all programming will be on the James W. Wagner Main Stage on the Midway Plaisance South between Woodlawn and Ellis Avenues from 1 – 8pm. See venue map here.

The Hyde Park Jazz Festival features 20 hours of jazz on September 24 and 25. Saturday programming begins at 1pm and will be 13 hours of FREE non-stop jazz through to the Midnight Jam session concluding at 2am. Sunday jazz on the James W. Wagner main stage will be performed from 1:00 – 8:00pm. Download the complete PDF schedule here.

All performances are FREE and open to the public. Note that some venues have limited seating capacity. Seating will be available on a first come first served basis. (For those that want to help support the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, there are special Jazz Passes available for a contribution of $125 that will provide access to preferred seating at select Festival performances.)

Check out pictures from last year’s Jazz Festival on Flickr.

Great jazz and great food go together and in Hyde Park and at the Jazz Festival we have an abundance of both. There will be expanded food and beverage vendors on the Midway and many of the jazz venues will also have dining options. There is also a wide variety of cuisines from throughout the Hyde Park neighborhood. Learn more about the many dining options in Hyde Park here.

The majority of the jazz festival venues are located in close proximity to each other. Festival attendees are encouraged to park and then walk to the venues of interest. The Midway Plaisance South will serve as the transportation hub for the festival. Free Parking is available in the Ellis Avenue Parking Garage, at the south-east corner of 55th street and Ellis Avenue.
Festival shuttles will transport attendees to all venues free of charge before, during and after all performances. For more information on how to get to Hyde Park and where to park, visit the Transportation section of this web site.
We highly encourage festival goers to bike to the festival (from the Lake Shore Bike Path) or use public transportation to go to and from festival venues.

This event is organized and produced largely by volunteers. We need additional help on the day of the festival. If you would like to volunteer for the 2011 Hyde Park Jazz Festival please sign up here.
Children of all ages are welcome. There will be special FREE programming and activities for the young jazz lovers near the main stage on the Midway in between performances.

For information regarding access to venues for people with disabilities, please e-mail HydeParkJazz@Hypachicago.org.

The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will take place rain or shine. Please visit this website and the Hyde Park Jazz Festival Facebook page regularly for the most

Information provided by the Hyde Park Alliance for Arts & Culture and the Hyde Park Jazz Society.

Chicago jazz in Chicago

Local artists shine 2011 jazz festival

By Robert Thornton

The 33^rd Annual Chicago Jazz Festival will once again bring to Chicago some of the world’s best jazz. For four days in various locations jazz performances will leave a lasting impression on Chicago’s jazz lovers.

This year’s festivals headliners could not be better with world renowned vocalist songwriter and producer Cassandra Wilson and two-time Grammy winner Roy Hargrove. The Chicago Jazz Festival 2011 September 1-4 will be one to remember.

Surely Cassandra Wilson and Roy Hargrove are a must see but there are some other performances that you should surely put on your list. There is a great lineup of Chicago artists who are scheduled to perform at some of the more intimate venues.

Artist-in-Residence Orbert Davis will perform in Ganz Hall at Roosevelt University on Friday, September 2 at 5pm with The Orbert Davis Trio. Chicago guitarist Curtis Robinson a long time favorite on the Chicago jazz scene will be performing at the Chicago Cultural Center Thursday September 1, from 1:30-2:30 in the Randolph Café.

Chicago’s own Bob Dugan performs with his quintet in Preston Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center Thursday September 1 12:30-1:30. Ernest Dawkins` New Horizons Ensemble of the Chicago Association of the Advancement of Creative Music (AACM) will perform Sunday September 4 on the Jazz & Heritage Stage.

This year’s festival will delight music lover and bring the best that jazz has to offer, The Chicago Jazz Festival 2011 for more information and a full schedule of events please go to www.cityofchicago/speaicalevents.org.