The 25th season of the Symphony Center Presents (SCP) JazzSeries continues on Friday, November 2, at 8 p.m., with the Branford Marsalis Quartet and special guest trumpeter Roy Hargrove. Chicago-based pianist and composer Reginald R. Robinson opens the concert with a new work that serves as a tribute to band leader and composer James Reese Europe, who first brought ragtime and jazzto Europe during World War I.

As part of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association’s special programming to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended WWI, the SCP Jazzseries commissioned Chicago contemporary ragtime pianist, composer and MacArthur Fellow Reginald R. Robinson to compose a new work paying tribute to ragtime and jazzmusician James Reese Europe. Europe first introduced these musical genres to France in 1918 as an officer and band leader for the 369th Regiment “Harlem Hellfighters,” who served with distinction in France during WWI. The program opens with Europe’s Likin' Ain't Like Lovin'followed by the world-premiere performance of Robinson’s new work, which features four movements with the following subtitles:JazzLieutenant, Serenades at Twilight, One-Step Beyond, andAfro Brazilian Carnival (Maxixe de Fogo). Robinson performs on piano and is joined by Chicago musicians Melanie Clevert on violin, Anne Harris on violin and mandolin, Robert Griffin on trumpet, Edwin Daugherty on soprano saxophone, Norman Palmer on trombone, Kaliq Woods on clarinet, Gerald Powell on tuba and Dushun Moseley on percussion.

The second half of the program features NEA jazzmaster and saxophonist Branford Marsalis and his quartet along with special guest trumpeter Roy Hargrove. The Branford Marsalis Quartet, with its tight, intuitive communication, welcomes Hargrove’s bold and flexible sound to their musical conversation in this special collaboration for the SCP jazzseries. Joining Marsalis in the quartet are Joey Calderazzo on piano, Eric Revis on bass and Justin Faulkner on drums.

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