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Chicago Jazz Festival September 2-5,2010
Chicago Jazz Festival September 2-5,2010
Date Posted: July 30 2010
Written By: chicago jazz
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32nd Annual Chicago Jazz Festival Expands into New Territory! September 2-5, 2010
Partnerships in the Key of Jazz
Nicole Mitchell’s Festival Commission Celebrates the Power of Women of Color
New Generations, New Voices
Celebrating Music Teachers and Youth
Jazz in Every Language
Chicago’s Own
One of the oldest of Chicago’s free music festivals, the Chicago Jazz Festival has evolved in many ways over the past three decades. This year it expands into new territory with extra days added in two new locations. With support provided by the Chicago Jazz Partnership, the Chicago Jazz Festival will present local and international jazz artists on Thursday, September 2 at Millennium Park and Friday, September 3 at the Chicago Cultural Center and Millennium Park, before moving to festival grounds in Grant Park, Saturday and Sunday, September 4 and 5. CareFusion is the presenting sponsor of the Chicago Jazz Festival which is produced by the Mayor’s Office of Special Events and programmed by the Jazz Institute of Chicago.
Partnerships in the Key of Jazz
Like the best jazz ensembles, The Chicago Jazz Festival is an enduring partnership between the not for profit Jazz Institute of Chicago and the City of Chicago that has lasted for thirty two years. Working together though good times and thin times the two partners have been successful in building an event that has grown in size and scope and helped to build Chicago’s jazz community over the past three decades.
That sense of community was illustrated by the response of the members of the Chicago Jazz Partnership when the Chicago Jazz Festival faced the loss of its third day because of budget cuts. The Jazz Institute of Chicagoproposed expanding the programming to include Millennium Park and the Chicago Cultural Center and the Chicago Jazz Partnership stepped forward with resources to support the expansion.
This in turn inspired the Jazz Institute to invite several jazz organizations to contribute ideas for programming the added time slots. For the first time five jazz organizations including Jazz Unites, The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) Umbrella Music, The Hyde Park Jazz Society and Asian Improv Arts Midwest were invited to participate.
Nicole Mitchell’s new commission Celebrates the Power of Women of Color The Festival Artist-in- Residence will be realized this year with a special commission and residency by Chicago artist Nicole Mitchell. A creative flutist, composer and bandleader, Nicole Mitchell placed first as Downbeat magazine’s "Rising Star Flutist 2005-2009, was just awarded "Jazz Flutist of the Year 2010" by the Jazz Journalist Association and “Chicagoan of the Year 2006” by the Chicago Tribune.
The Artist-in-Residence program provides opportunities for Residency Artists to work with Chicago musicians. In this case, as a Chicago musician herself, Mitchell will work with Chicago musicians and invited guests from her travels in other parts of the world including Craig Taborn, Anthony Davis and Edmar Castenda on four festival performances, beginning with a commissioned composition premiering on the Pritzker stage at Millennium Park on Friday September 3, 2010.
According to Mitchell, the Arc of O “explores the primordial meaning of circles, rotation, beginnings and otherness”. Mathematics, composition and human emotion combine to propel the “Arc of O” as a sound vessel to celebrate the power of women of color.
New Generations/New Voices
As an ever-evolving music it’s important to note new voices that are part of creating a new vocabulary of jazz. Pianist Brad Mehldau makes his first appearance at the Chicago Jazz Festival on the Petrillo stage.
Mehldau favors juxtaposing extremes. He has attracted a sizeable following over the years, one that has grown to expect a singular, intense experience in his performance. Vocalist Renee Marie’s High Maintenance band signals the intent of a restless experimenter. Drummer Brian Blade possesses a hallmark ability to channel music in perpetual motion; his playing embraces and personifies the ephemeral nature of time.
Celebrating Music Teachers and Youth
For the second year, The Chicago Community Trust Young Jazz Lions stage will highlight the next generation of jazz. The stage is presented by The Chicago Community Trust, which is a dedicated leader in the collaborative effort to expand arts learning and performance opportunities for all students and is a member of the Chicago Jazz Partnership.
The stage features bands from area high schools and colleges. A Celebration of Chicago Public School Music Educators on Friday September 3 features a special commission by trumpeter and educator Burgess Gardner performed by Lincoln Park High School Jazz Ensemble and the debut of Noteworthy, an ensemble comprised of CPS Jazz educators.
Jazz in Every Language
In recognition of the increasingly international language of jazz, the Cambridge-based band Either Orchestra’s collaboration with Ethiopian artists Mahmoud Ahmed and Teshome Mitiku will weave the improvisational styles and rhythms of Africa and the U.S. together, as will Douglas Ewart’s Nyahbibgi Drum Choir and the post Afro-beat dance band NOMO. Tatsu Aoki’s Miyumi Project Big Band combines African and Asian rhythms to explore cross cultural convergences.
Chicago’s Own
One of the hallmarks of the Chicago Jazz Festival is that it has consistently reserved at least 50% of its programming for Chicago musicians, and this year is no different. In addition to a wide range of our own resident musicians gracing all four of the festival’s stages, we are also have the great fortune to present three internationally renowned musicians from our great City.
On opening night, Friday, September 3 in Millennium Park the Chicago Jazz Festival will celebrate Ramsey Lewis’ 75th birthday. Composer and pianist Ramsey Lewis has been referred to as “the great performer", a title reflecting his performance style and musical selections which display his early gospel playing and classical training along with his love of jazz and other musical forms.
A native Chicagoan, Mr. Lewis represents the great diversity of music for which Chicago is noted. Winner of three Grammy® Awards, Mr. Lewis was invited by President Barack Obama to perform his recently premiered suite “Proclamation of Hope” at the White House.
Henry Threadgill’s Zooid band stands to be one of the most innovative sets at the festival. Threadgill has been a seminal figure in the vanguard of contemporary instrumental music since the early-70's as a first generation member of the AACM. Threadgill came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating a range of non-jazz genres.
Finally, closing the festival is Grammy winning vocalist Kurt Elling, whose very personal take on bebop has etched a very significant mark on a long line of jazz singers, including fellow Chicagoans Nat King Cole, Johnny Hartman and Joe Williams.
Also new this year: a first-time first time partnership with jazz club Close Up 2 and radio station 87.7 FM, will present Corey Wilkes and Steve Cole on the Jackson stage on Saturday night and Harlan Jefferson and Norman Brown on Sunday Night beginning at 6Pm on both evenings.
Jazz Festival hours are noon – 4p.m. on Thursday at Millennium Park; Noon -3p.m. Friday at the Chicago Cultural Center; 4-9:30p.m. Friday evening at Millennium Park; and 11a.m. - 9:30p.m September 4 and 5 in Grant Park. For more information, call the Mayor's Office of Special Events (312) 744-3315 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (312) 744-3315 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, TTY (312) 744-2964.
Visit jazzinchicago.org or the Mayor's Office of Special www.chicagojazzfestival.us for updates on performers.
For more information on Chicago, including help planning your trip, visit www.explorechicago.org
The 32nd Annual Chicago Jazz Festival is presented by the CareFusion, supported by the Chicago Jazz Partnership, produced by the Mayor’s Office of Special Events and programmed by the Jazz Institute of Chicago. The Young Jazz Lions Stage is made possible by the Chicago Community Trust, a member of the Chicago Jazz Partnership. The Chicago Jazz Partnership members include the Boeing Company, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust and the Joyce Foundation.
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