2012 Chicago Jazz Festival

[sonnymax]

The 34th annual Chicago Jazz Festival will take place from August 30th to September 2nd. Saxophonist and composer Ken Vandermark has been named this year's Artist in Residence. During the course of the festival, Vandermark will be performing in duets with Joe McPhee and Paal Nilssen-Love, with his Made to Break Quartet, and with the larger Resonance Ensemble. Here's the line-up:

Thursday, August 30

Chicago Cultural Center - Randolph Café, 77 E. Randolph St.

12:00 - 1:00 pm - Chris Madsen Bix Quartet

1:30 - 2:30 pm - Hyde Park Jazz Society Presents "A Tribute to Jodie Christian" featuring the Ken Chaney

Chicago Cultural Center - Claudia Cassidy Theater, 78 E. Washington St.

12:15 - 1:15 pm - Damon Short Quintet

1:45 - 2:45 pm - Japonesque with special guest Dee Alexander

Chicago Cultural Center - Preston Bradley Hall, 78 E. Washington St.

12:30 - 1:30 pm - Stu Katz / Willie Pickens Duo

2:00 - 3:00 pm - Jim Gailloreto's String Quintet

Millennium Park - Jay Pritzker Pavilion (201 E. Randolph St. between Michigan & Columbus Ave)

6:30 - 8:30 pm - Exquisitely for Ella: A songbook Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald featuring Jeff Lindberg's Chicago Jazz Orchestra

Friday, August 31st

Roosevelt University - Ganz Hall , 430 S. Michigan Ave.

5:00 pm - Ken Vandermark and Joe McPhee

Millennium Park – Jay Pritzker Pavilion

6:30 - 7:30 pm - CALJE (Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble)

8:00 - 9:30 pm - Roy Haynes Fountain of Youth Band

Saturday, September 1

Grant Park (Jackson Blvd. & Columbus Dr.)

Jazz Oasis (Just East of Petrillo Band Shell on Jackson)

11:00 Heather Moran Quartet

12:00 Shawn Maxwell Quartet

1:00 Jeff Mackevich Quartet

2:00 Paul Abella Trio

3:00 Nanette Frank Jazz Ensemble

4:00 Tommy Muellner's Chi-Town Jazz Aristocats

Jazz on Jackson Stage

12:00 - 12:55 pm - Alfonso Ponticelli & Swing Gitan

1:10 - 2:05 pm - Jason Stein Quartet

2:20 - 3:15 pm - Frank D'Rone

3:30 - 4:30 pm - Ambrose Akinmusire

Chicago Community Trust Young Jazz Lions Stage

12:00 - 12:30 pm - Lakeview High School Jazz Combo

12:45 - 1:15 pm - Saucedo Scholastic Academy Latin Big Band

1:30 - 2:10 pm - Curie Metro Jazz Ensemble

2:25 - 3:05 pm - Evanston Township High School Jazz Ensemble

3:20 - 4:00 pm - Pritzker College Prep Ensemble

4:15 - 5:00 pm - NIU Jazz Ensemble

Cricket Jazz and Heritage Stage

12:30 - 1:30 pm - Caroline Davis Quartet

2:00 - 3:00 pm - Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilssen-Love

3:30 - 4:30 pm - Marlene Rosenberg Quartet

Petrillo Music Shell

5:00 - 5:50 pm - Billy Hart

6:00 - 6:55 pm - Resonance Ensemble

7:10 - 8:10 pm - Jerry Gonzalez Y El Commando De La Clave

8:30 - 9:30 pm - Dianne Reeves

Sunday, September 2

Grant Park (Jackson Blvd. & Columbus Dr.)

Jazz Oasis

11:00 Sam Fazio Quartet

12:00 Arlene Bardelle Quartet

1:00 Roger Harris Quintet

2:00 James Sanders Quartet

3:00 LePercolateur

4:00 Spiral Jazz Quintet

Jazz on Jackson Stage

12:00 - 12:55 pm - The Milton Suggs Philosophy

1:10 - 2:05 pm - Jeremy Kahn Sextet

2:20 - 3:15 pm - Ken Vandermark's Made to Break Quartet

3:30 - 4:30 pm - Matt Wilson's Arts & Crafts

Chicago Community Trust Young Jazz Lions Stage

12:00 - 12:35 pm - Chi Arts Jazz Combo

12:50 - 1:25 pm - Kenwood Academy Jazz Combo

1:40 - 2:25 pm - Northwestern University Jazz Ensemble

2:40 - 3:25 pm - Downers Grove South Jazz Ensemble

3:40 - 4:25 pm - Lincoln Park Jazz Ensemble

Cricket Jazz and Heritage Stage

12:30 - 1:30 pm - Edwin Sanchez Project

2:00 - 3:00 pm - Jeff Newell's New-Trad Octet

3:30 - 4:30 pm - Tito Carrillo

Petrillo Music Shell

5:00 - 5:50 pm - Sarah Marie Young Quartet

6:00 - 6:55 pm - Pierre Dørge and New Jungle Orchestra

7:10 - 8:10 pm - Steve Coleman and Five Elements

8:30 - 9:30 pm - Allen Toussaint's "The Bright Mississippi" featuring and Marc Ribot and Don Byron

[sonnymax]

Of course, the Chicago Jazz Festival is hardly complete without the after-fest jam sessions at the Jazz Showcase, hosted this year by Ira Sullivan and Stu Katz. Although the Festival is free, the Showcase isn't. It will cost you $20 to see who shows up from the Festival, and to enjoy a host of talented local artists. If you've never seen Ira, you have to go!

[Pete C]

The last time I saw Ira Sullivan, at Smalls, a few years ago, he didn't play any trumpet. I wonder if he's lost his brass chops. When I saw him at the Showcase some years ago he was great on all instruments, including trumpet.

I'd say this is a relatively disappointing Chicago lineup. Virtually no AACM presence this year, for one thing. I hope they add a Von Freeman tribute somewhere in the schedule. I'll probably be back next year. This year will be my first in Detroit.

I'd say the best Chicago festival I was at was in 2000:

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/chicago-jazz-festival-2000/Content?oid=903128

Edited August 21, 2012 by Pete C

[ejp626]

On the whole it does look pretty underwhelming (esp. if you are not totally sold on Vandermark) and Detroit was clearly the place to be. Reich really liked Allen Toussaint: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/ct-ent-0904-jazz-finale-20120904,0,2669706.column

I saw Toussaint at Chicago Symphony Hall a few years back and he was quite good, so I'm glad he is touring more regularly and is still sounding great. I'm wondering if the city should just give up on Petrillo and move all the headliners to Millennium Park. No question the sound would be much, much better (and the attendance is down so much that they would probably all fit on the lawn). I'm guessing they won't because the only way they recover any money at all is the food concessions and those can't be relocated closer. But it is starting to look like a long, slow decline in the quality of Chicago Jazz Fest because of the city's head-in-the-sand attitude.

Edited September 3, 2012 by ejp626

[Chuck Nessa]

On the whole it does look pretty underwhelming (esp. if you are not totally sold on Vandermark) and Detroit was clearly the place to be. Reich really liked Allen Toussaint: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/ct-ent-0904-jazz-finale-20120904,0,2669706.column

I saw Toussaint at Chicago Symphony Hall a few years back and he was quite good, so I'm glad he is touring more regularly and is still sounding great. I'm wondering if the city should just give up on Petrillo and move all the headliners to Millennium Park. No question the sound would be much, much better (and the attendance is down so much that they would probably all fit on the lawn). I'm guessing they won't because the only way they recover any money at all is the food concessions and those can't be relocated closer. But it is starting to look like a long, slow decline in the quality of Chicago Jazz Fest because of the city's head-in-the-sand attitude.

I am curious if you were there or just read Reich.

I have a number of issues with your post but do not have time.

BUT:

I am not a huge Vandermark fan but think he did a great job by presenting a number of players the audience would not hear otherwise.

The New Jungle Orchestra was dandy - Pierre always outdoes himself.

I think the number of "new faces" of real talent were worth a gazillion "name" retreads.

I think the Grant Park facility is more intimate and "neighborhood" than Pritzker.

Maybe more later.

The discussion of fest funding is a much larger and more complex issue. Sand don't have anything to do with it.

Edited September 4, 2012 by Chuck Nessa

[ejp626]

On the whole it does look pretty underwhelming (esp. if you are not totally sold on Vandermark) and Detroit was clearly the place to be. Reich really liked Allen Toussaint: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/ct-ent-0904-jazz-finale-20120904,0,2669706.column

I saw Toussaint at Chicago Symphony Hall a few years back and he was quite good, so I'm glad he is touring more regularly and is still sounding great. I'm wondering if the city should just give up on Petrillo and move all the headliners to Millennium Park. No question the sound would be much, much better (and the attendance is down so much that they would probably all fit on the lawn). I'm guessing they won't because the only way they recover any money at all is the food concessions and those can't be relocated closer. But it is starting to look like a long, slow decline in the quality of Chicago Jazz Fest because of the city's head-in-the-sand attitude.

I am curious if you were there or just read Reich.

I have a number of issues with your post but do not have time.

No, just passing on Reich's observations. Almost no one seemed to have anything to say about the Chicago Jazz Fest this year, which seems ominous in and of itself. After my move out of Chicago, it is pretty unlikely I will ever make it to the Chicago Jazz Fest again. It certainly has declined from previous years, in my estimation. (I guess I've been there most years since 1998.) If I was going to travel on Labor Day weekend (which I don't like to do), I would start going to Detroit's.

[Larry Kart]

Couldn't be at the Fest this year myself for a blend of practical reasons that have no relevance here, but Reich's "observations" are not genuine observations IMO but part of a personal-political disinformation campaign that he has been carrying on for almost 20 years now. The same sort of thinking pervades many of his reviews -- or should I say "reviews." That is, he more or less decides upfront (on a more or less self-serving "political" basis) whether a fellow such as himself should or should not like a particular performance, and then he proceeds accordingly. My advice: Don't believe a word he says about anything; even when he's right (e.g. praises something that's praise-worthy), he's wrong -- because the spirit/motive behind the praise is typically venal and ugly, a move in a game. I should say that while my views here are ones that I could have arrived at just by reading Reich's work, I also know the man; we worked at the same newspaper for many years.

[Pete C]

I can't imagine how they can ever outdo the Y2K lineup:

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/chicago-jazz-festival-2000/Content?oid=903128

Plus there was the Instabile solos, duos & trios at Hothouse.

Edited September 4, 2012 by Pete C

[rpklich]

One obvious thing is the animus he likely harbors toward the Programming Committee Chair Neil Tesser. Tesser sniffed Reich out early. I recall Neil stating on the radio (can't remember if was BEZ or his AM stint) that "He must be the world's greatest jazz critic because he works for the Worlds Greatest Newspaper."

[johnlitweiler]

A more reliable review of the Chicago fest is at http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/14890556-421/chicagos-2012-festival-delivers-wide-jazz-palette.html - Jackson is much more knowledgeable about and experienced in jazz than Reich.

What a peculiar review Reich wrote about the Friday show. Looks like he wasn't there for the one, comparatively brief Chico Freeman song and Roy Haynes's uncomfortable set. It wouldn't be the first time he reviewed an event he didn't hear.

[Chuck Nessa]

Lest anyone is confused. The Chicago festival shows are free. I find whining unattractive.

[johnlitweiler]

It's Tuesday and I'm still happy from the festival. I was half or 3/4 ill so I missed a bit of the fest and heard none of the late-night shows at the clubs and concert rooms. This year I can qualify as an almost unbiased observer, so, a few highlights:

Thursday: Damon Short's quintet playing his compositions and Damon's debut (at least in my experience) on piano to duet with sopranoist Paul Hartsaw. Also, Juli Wood playing her ass off on tenor sax on a Ken Chaney hard-bop piece.

Friday: Vandermark honking sound variations on one baritone sax note while Joe McPhee played some sweet trumpet. In the Chico Freeman piece, his dad's absolutely burning rhythm section including Ben Paterson, piano; Mike Allemana, guitar; Matt Ferguson, bass; Michael Raynor, drums.

Saturday: Caroline Davis playing modern Konitz on alto sax, w/Allemana and Ferguson. The Resonance Ensemble set - Rempis and Steve Swell were terrific, the 2 Polish sax guys sounded Klezmerish - Vandermark packed a lot into his hour. On the other hand, Ambrose Akinmusire sounded to me like a kinda raw talent; but maybe the problem is my ears and not him.

Sunday: Vandermark and the Austrian electronics guy got into some intriguing interplay - quite a set. Matt Wilson's Arts & Crafts w/Randy Brecker was all right, but Tito Carillo's quintet a block away was hot hard bop w/a good tenor player from Seattle(?) named Doyle. It was great to hear Dorge and the NJO again. I haven't heard the Bright MS album so Toussaint's choices were a surprise. Egyptian Fantasy, Minor Swing, Singing The Blues, Frankie & Johnny, etc. Sounded like he could reinvent anything into that easy-rocking New Orleans swing, and honestly his blues transfusions weren't all that far from Little Brother Montgomery or even JRM. (As a songwriter I've always preferred Toussaint to famous folks like, for instance, Bacharach-David.)

Sound quality in Grant Park was good in evenings - whatever problems occured, the sound people adjusted quickly. Millenium Park was good for listening also, although the previous week they made rather a mess of Frank Rosaly's Puerto Rican-jazz fusion music ensemble.

Detroit, our long-time Labor Day weekend rival, must have had a hell of a festival this year, but Chicago still had more of the people I was curious about.

[AllenLowe]

just a word on Reich; I concur with Larry about his lack of integrity. His Morton book was crap; quite hilariously, as Larry Gushee pointed to me; there is one passage where he discusses visiting William Russel's house; Larry G. read the description and pointed out that the place he was visiting was not Russel's; he had the wrong building.