Artists Spotlight for the 2026 Chicago Jazz Festival Thursday September 3

CHICAGO CULTURAL CENTER

Preston Bradley Hall, 3rd Floor South

3:15 - 4:15 p.m. - Julius Tucker Quartet Presented by Hyde Park Jazz Society

Over the last several years, Julius Tucker has been one of the hardest working musicians at the Chicago Jazz Festival, backing up any number of artists on piano and electric piano – something he has done on recordings and in club performances with the likes of Victor Garcia, Thaddeus Tukes, Alvin Cobb Jr. and Christian Dillingham. Today, he’ll get a chance to show off his own quartet, which is equally comfortable in soulful hard bop and post-bop styles. A product of the Merit School of Music and Northwestern University, where he earned a degree in civil engineering as well as one in jazz piano, he will be accompanied by trumpeter Dakarai Barclay,  bassist Christian Dillingham and drummer Kyle Swan.

1:45 - 2:45 p.m. - Larry Brown Jr. Quartet Presented by South Side Jazz Coalition

12:15 - 1:15 p.m. - Tom McCarthy Quartet performing John McLaughlin’s 1969 EXTRAPOLATION Presented by Fulton Street Collective

Before he he made his mark as the electric jazz-rock guru of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and champion of Indo-African jazz, guitarist John McLaughlin showed off his skills in a more traditional but no less challenging setting on his 1969 debut album, Extrapolation. An inspired choice for a “cover” performance, the recording affords veteran guitarist Tom McCarthy and band the opportunity to explore that music in a contemporary setting. Having emerged from the Guitar Craft program inaugurated by King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp (like McLaughlin a Brit), McCarthy is more than up to the challenge of making the album come alive. Saxophonist Brian Gepart will step into John Surman’s shoes on tenor rather than baritone, Eric Montzka will “fill in” for Tony Oxley on drums and Chris Damman will play the part of respected session player Brian Odgers on bass.

11 a.m. - Noon - Shy Shēks Presented by Illiana Club of Traditional Jazz

No jazz festival is complete without a dose of swinging trad jazz, which is what guitarist Nick Ruiz and his singing sister Cassondra Porayko will offer in the Shy Shēks. Featuring violinist Ethan Adelsman and guitarist John Garza, the band draws merrily from the music of Josephine Baker, Maurice Chevalier, Ruth Etting and Django Reinhardt, among other historical figures. The Shēks, who take their name from the silent film The Lady of the Night, in which Norma Shearer approvingly refers to some “shy sheiks from Cheyenne,” pride themselves on their ability to relate to the lyrics and times they represent.

Claudia Cassidy Theater, 2nd Floor North

3:45 - 4:45 p.m. - What is This Thing Called Jazz? Music to Movies, Scoring Master Class with Robert Glasper, presented by DCASE with the Jazz Institute of Chicago and moderated by Robert Irving III.

This year the Chicago Jazz Festival will continue to partner on the Chicago Jazz Institute’s program “What is This Thing

Called Jazz?”

“WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED JAZZ?” will feature a Music to Movies Master class on Film Scoring with Robert Glasper. The goal of this event is to educate emerging and working musicians on how to get started in scoring, composing and syncing for film and tv. This will be held in

the Chicago Cultural Center’s Claudia Cassidy Theater

(200 seat theater).

2:15 - 3:15 p.m. - Toyoaki Ensemble Presented by Asian Improv aRts Midwest

An expansion of bassist and Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival founder Tatsu Aoki’s longstanding MIYUMI Project, the Toyoaki Ensemble blends electro acoustic jazz and traditional Japanese okiya (Geisha House) chamber music. Today, the ensemble will perform a series of improvised pieces based on pre-determined frameworks. The band features Aoki, onetime member of local jazz legend Fred Anderson’s quartet, on shamisen (three-stringed lute); the ever-surprising Mai Sugimoto on alto saxophone, Lori Ashaikawa on violin, Kioto Aoki (the leader’s daughter) on taiko drums and Koichi Hiraishi on bass.

12:45 - 1:45 p.m. - The Young Masters directed by Ernest Dawkins Presented by Live the Spirit Residency

11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. - Extraordinary Popular Delusions Presented by Elastic Arts Foundation

With their weekly North Side performances over the past 15 years, the collective band Extraordinary Popular Delusions has made the Beat Kitchen a Monday night destination for out of towners as well as locals. Once boasting three alumni of the great NRG Ensemble – saxophonist Mars Williams, bassist and electric guitarist Brian Sandstrom and drummer and percussionist Steve Hunt – the group kept on keeping on when Williams was out on tour with the Psychedelic Furs and after his sad passing in 2023. With the great tenor saxophonist (and clarinetist and didgeridoo master) Edward Wilkerson Jr., singular pianist and keyboardist Jim Baker and onetime Fred Anderson bassist Christopher Dammann in the lineup, EPD boasts a sometimes immersive, sometimes robust sound, as captured on their 2025 album, The Last Quintet.

MILLENNIUM PARK

JAY PRITZKER PAVILION

7:45-9 p.m. - Dee Dee Bridgewater & Bill Charlap Duo

Those seeking the art of jazz singing at its most buoyantly expressive need look no further than Dee Dee Bridgewater, a veteran of bebop combos, big bands and Broadway who can create a living room intimacy in a big outdoor setting like Millennium Park. Those seeking the art of the piano accompaniment at its most elegant and understated need look no further than Bill Charlap, a master of the Great American Songbook.  Together, Bridgewater and Charlap have helped redefine the vocal and piano duo. Reviewing their 2025 album, Elemental, critic Will Friedwald praised them for “pushing interpretation to its limits” and “creating variations on the tunes as originally written.” Which means if you think you’ve heard definitive versions of jazz classics like “Mood Indigo” and “Caravan,” you’ve only gotten started.

6:30-7:30 p.m. - Joel Ross Good Vibes

“This is gospel music,” vibraphonist Joel Ross told a recent crowd – more as a statement of purpose than explanation. Since emerging as the leader of the band Good Vibes 15 years ago, the Chicago native has devoted himself to musically interpreting the Bible, both in its promises of redemption and joy and its depictions of darker events. Layering his interpretations of the Scripture beneath a moody post-bop sensibility, he brings a highly personal approach to his source. Raised on the South Side and now living in Brooklyn, Ross played drums at his family’s Baptist church, where his father (like his mother a police officer) led the choir. He switched to vibes when his twin brother Josh laid claim to drums in their middle school band and developed his skills at the Chicago High School of the Arts. On his most recent album, Gospel Music, he ranges from the stirring, minimalistic “Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)” to “The Giver,” a setting of a poem by James Baldwin. His band today will include saxophonist Devin Daniels, pianist Tyler Bullock II, bassist Kanoa Mendenhall and drummer Jeremy Dutton.

6-6:15 p.m. - 2 Brown Sisters: Maggie and Africa Brown

Together and apart, singers and composers Maggie and Africa Brown have paid earthy and eloquent tribute to their late, great father Oscar Brown Jr., and joyously celebrated their African roots. In their brief set today, a sort of sampler for newcomers to their art, they will talk about those origins, show a short tribute video and perform with pianist Theodis Rodgers, Jr.