The 3rd Hyde Park Jazz Festival will be held on Saturday, September 26, 2009.Over 100 musicians including jazz headliners Garaj Mahal, Ari Brown, Von Freeman, Jon Faddis, Richie Cole, Willie Pickens, Dee Alexander, Maggie Brown, and Orbert Davis will be performing along with local emerging artists for 15 hours of FREE, non-stop jazz.
Yes, I said FREE!
Venues and Schedule
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival utilizes 13 creative and unexpected, indoor and outdoor venues in Hyde Park.
The Festival begins in two places at 11:00am -The DuSable Museum with The Awakening and the James W. Wagner Stage on the Midway with the U-High Band. The Festival closes Sunday, September 28, 2009 at the International House with a Slam Jam that begins at midnight and ends at 2AM.
All venues are identified on the Jazz Festival Venue Map.
Tickets
I told yall, all performances are FREE and open to the public. Please note because some venues have a limited seating capacity, seating will be available on a first come first served basis. At the Midway Plaisance there will be seating but, you can certainly bring your lawn chairs.
Dining
Hyde park has anything you could possibly want to chow down on. From a variety of ethnic fare to great burgers and pizza to fine dining to Micky D's. So grab something to bring to the Midway or dine in style before or after a performance.
For special needs access, transportation and all info on the fest go here.
Hyde Park Jazz History
This area in Chicago had at one time been known as the home of the great Chicago jazz scene. In 1995, James W. Wagner formed the Committee to Restore Jazz to Hyde Park with the goal of returning Hyde Park to its glory days as a mecca for jazz musicians and fans. The committee enlisted the support of the past two presidents of the University of Chicago, Hugo Sonnenschein and Don Michael Randel, which resulted in the relocation of the Checkerboard Lounge to Harper Court in Hyde Park.
The Committee to Restore Jazz to Hyde Park reconstituted itself as the Hyde Park Jazz Society in 2006 and resulted in successfully sponsoring CheckerJAZZ, a Sunday night jazz series at the "New Checkerboard Lounge for Blues and Jazz," and supporting performance by high school jazz musicians with a Sunday afternoon school series. The Sunday night jazz series is now being held at Room 43 on 43rd Street.
Sadly, we lost Jim Wagner this year. But his great smile and love for jazz will be felt all over Hyde Park on Saturday. The James W. Wagner Stage on the Midway will host the James Wagner All-Star Band and every note will celebrate his spirit and dedication to jazz. I am proud to have known Jim.
So, come on out with you jazzy selfs and celebrate the first weekend of autumn by enjoying a diverse list of artists known in Chicago and around the world as the best in traditional and progressive jazz.
6 comments:
Sorry I'm going to miss this. I love jazz! My little one loves jazz and house music; so he would have enjoyed this too.
Okay, you're killing me here!!! Sounds fabulous!!! We missed our own Monterey Jazz Festival last weekend due to other committments........fyi, the place we had a great jazz experience in Chicago was NOT at the museum, but the Art Institute.....with a bunch of people from our friend's so side neighborhood.....was a blast that was!
Dustin, I really want to meet your jazz lovin' little boy. It's greeat to introduce the youngsters to this genre. Good on you. See you soon!
Chris, yep they do have some great performances at the Art Institute. Wish you were here too. I'll have to snap my fingers just for you.
If it will work girl......do it! When Gary and I get in our motorhome and head for the windy city one of these days, I hope we can meet up and enjoy some jazz together!!!
Chris, that would be wonderful. The entire neighborhood was alive with jazz yesterday. It was fun to see. The James Wagner All-Stars on the Midway were fantastic and Maggie Brown (Oscar Brown Jr.'s daughter) really worked it when she joined them for a few songs. Jim Wagner's wife really enjoyed it and had to be very proud that all this came from Jim's idea. They both worked hard and we could feel his spirit everywhere.
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