The 26th Annual Chicago Jazz Festival
Article and photos by Jimmie Jones
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The 26th Annual Chicago Jazz Festival was held labor Day Weekend September
2 - 5 as it has been in the past.
For the second year in a row, the festival began on Thursday at the Chicago
Symphony Center with a charge for attendance. This year the Symphony Center
featured Dee Dee Bridgewater and "A Salute to The Thad Jones / Mel
Lewis Orchestrated by Jon Faddis, featuring such Jazz giants as Hank Jones,
George Mraz, Billy Harper, Cecil Bridgewater, Orbert Davis, Garrett Brown,
Earl McIntyre and Jerry Dodgion.
I did not attend the Symphony Center Performance, but I did catch a fine
"after the fess set" at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase led by
Ira Sullivan on soprano and tenor saxophones and trumpet, and featuring
Frank Wess on tenor saxophone and flute; Willie Pickens on piano, Larry
Gary on bass and Robert Shy on drums. I also made it to Fred Anderson's
Velvet Lounge to catch a trio led by bassist Paul Steinback with Damian
Epinson on piano and Scott Garrigan on drums. Fred met and worked with Steinback
in New York earlier this year. |
FRANK WESS
|
The remaining three days of the festival took place as they always have
in the past at Grant Park and were free to the public. Performances were
held on the Jackson Stage from 12:00 noon until 4:30 pm and the Petrillo
Music Stage from 5:00 pm until 9:30 pm. Educational Workshops were held
on the Jazz and Heritage Family Stage from 12:00 noon until 4:30 pm.
The first set I caught early Friday afternoon was on the Jackson Stage
featuring a duo of pianist John Campbell and one of the all time top saxophone
section men, Jerry Dodgion who for this set proved to be quite a capable
improviser on both Jazz standards and ballads. Next I caught a workshop
at the Jazz and Heritage Stage on the "Art of the Solo" by baritone
saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett and trombonist Ray Anderson, both musicians explained
how they learned how to improvise with Anderson emphasizing how he learned
from his elders while growing up in Chicago. Toshico Akiyoshi closed out
the Jackson Stage on Friday with a trio consisting of herself on piano,
Peter Washington on bass and Freddie Marshall on drums. |
HAMIET BLUIETT |
RAY ANDERSON |
TOSHICO AKIYOSHI and PETER WASHINGTON |
IRENE REID
CONRAD HERWIG
|
On Friday, the Petrillo Music Stage opened up with one of the swingingest
and by far the bluesiest set heard at the festival with the guitarist Henry
Johnson's "Organ Express" featuring the blind organist Chris Foreman
and drummer Greg Rockinham and special guest vocalist Irene Reid who performed
sitting in a wheel chair. I had caught Ms. Reid once before at the Chicago
Jazz Festival and she showed once again why she is one of the bluesiest
Dinah Washington like Jazz Vocalists on the planet.
The second Petrillo set was led by one of today's top young drummers,
Winard Harper, with a sextet of young up and coming musicians, Patrick Rickman
on trumpet, Brian Horton on saxophones, Jeb Patton on piano, Ameen Saleem
on bass and Kevin Jones on percussion. Winard Harper was followed by trombonist
Conrad Herwig's Latin Side of Miles band with Jazz Messenger alumni Brian
Lynch on trumpet and five outstanding Latin American musicians including
Mario Rivera on baritone saxophone and flute, Edsel Gomez on piano, Ruben
Rodriguez on bass, Robbie Ameen on drums and Pedro Martinez on congas. The
band performed Miles Davis related tunes such as "Solar," "So
What," and "Seven Steps to Heaven." The Latin side of Miles
band performed again after the fest at the Hot House.
The headliners for the Petrillo stage Friday night was "Celebrating
Count Basie's 100th Birthday" (he was born August 21, 1904 in Red Bank,
New Jersey.) with a group of Basie veterans called "The Kansas City
Seven" with Clark Terry on trumpet and fluegelhorn, Frank Wess on tenor
sax and flute, Benny Powell on Trombone, Buddy Defranco on clarinet, George
Caldwell on piano. Buddy Catlett on bass and Harold Jones on drums. Frank
Foster was suppose to join Frank Wess on tenor sax but he was unable to
do so because of a stroke. Foster did speak a few words sitting in a wheel
chair o stage. Clark Terry was also sitting in a wheel chair, but his handicap
certainly had no effect on his playing ability. As always when one hears
two notes played by Clark Terry, one knows it's him! Among Count Basie tunes
played were "Lil' Darling," "Jumping at the Woodside,"
and "One O'clock Jump." |
CLARK TERRY (L) BENNY POWELL (R) |
 |
After the fest Friday evening, I headed for the velvet lounge to catch
two sets of Ernest Khabeer Dawkins and the New Horizon Ensemble with Dawkins
on reeds. Steve Berry on trombone, Darius Savage on bass and Isaiah Spencer
on drums. The group played a number of tunes from the ensemble's latest
CD "Mean Ameen" on Delmark Records named after the late long time
member trumpeter Ameen Muhammad, among the tunes was the bluesy Dawkins
composition "The Messengers" dedicated to Art Blakey.
ERNEST KHABEER DAWKINS
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EDWARD "KIDD" JORDAN
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Saturday on the Jazz and Heritage Family Stage, I caught the finest job
of teaching young Jazz musicians about how to perform in a Jazz Combo in
a one hour workshop I've ever witnessed and I've caught more than my share
by many great Jazz educators. The workshop was conducted by New Orleans
tenor saxophonist and educator Edward "Kidd" Jordan with the assistance
of a rhythm section led by pianist Ken Chaney. The students consisted of
five of Chicago's very best high school musicians including three saxophonists
and two trumpeters. Kidd brought blues related music for the youngsters
to work with and had each musician to solo while the remaining musicians
performed section work behind the soloist. Kidd gave these kids complete
attention during the entire workshop and stopped their playing on occasions
for counseling.
I caught two fine Chicago bands at the Jackson Stage on Saturday.
The first was the Ryan Cohan Sextet who performed with Kidd Jordan's workshop
students in the audience listening attentively. The sextet consisted of
leader Cohen on piano, Tito Carillo on trumpet, Greg Fichman and Geof Bradfield
on woodwinds, James Gammack on bass and Dana Hall on drums. An Afro Cuban
Jazz style band "Crosswind" was Saturday's closer for the Jackson
Stage with some of Chicago's top Jazz artists led by percussionist Greg
Penn with Corey Wilkes on trumpet, Bill McFarland on trombone, Chris Neal
on saxophones, Chris Mahieu on piano, Kurt Schwietz on bass and Charles
"Rick" Heath on drums.
I was unable to catch "A 100th Birthday Tribute to Coleman Hawkins"
with the Bennie Wallace Nonet. Wallace was followed by "Jammin' at
the Petrillo" featuring James Moody and Von Freeman on tenor saxophones,
Jon Faddis on trumpet, Ron Perillo on piano, Dennis Carroll on bass and
Dana Hall on drums. James Moody sang his famous "Moody's Mood for Love"
as he has done every time I have seen him. Each of the horn players was
featured on at least one song. |
JAMES MOODY
JON FADDIS |
ARI BROWN
DEE ALEXANDER
|
Saturday's headliner at the Petrillo Shell "Orbert Davis' Chicago
Jazz Philharmonic" was one of the finest performances ever held at
any of Chicago's Jazz Festivals. The festival program stated that the Chicago
Jazz Philharmonic consisted of 40 musicians but Jazz Institute Executive
Director Lauren Déutsch told me that 55 musicians performed during
this set. The headlines included two Orbert Davis compositions performed
by the Orbert Davis Quintet with the orchestra featuring solos by Davis
and Ari Brown, an Aria from Giacomo Puccini's opera "Tosca" performed
by pianist Willie Pickens and the ensemble and vocalist Dee Alexander singing
a medley from Ella Fitzgerald's "Songbooks" including "Body
and Soul," Embraceable You," and other ballads by the orchestra.
After the fest, I made it back to the Velvet Lounge for two great sets.
The first set featured Fred Anderson and Kidd Jordan on tenor sax, Hamiet
Bluiett on baritone sax and flute, Jeff Parker on guitar, Harrison Bankhead
on bass and Hamid Drake on drums. These six Jazz giants performed creative
spontaneous music continuously for one and a half hours before an enthusiastic
standing room only crowd. The second set consisted of a jam session and
was just as powerful as the first with a large number of top Chicago Jazz
musicians standing in line waiting to sit in. Among the ones I knew were
Bill Brimfield on trumpet, Arthur Taylor on alto sax, Bill Perry on tenor
sax, Douglas Ewart on flute, Aaron Getsug on baritone sax and Avreeayl Ra
on drums. Among the musicians I didn't know were three or our tenor saxophonists,
three bass players, and couple of drummers and a violinist!
FRED ANDERSON |
JEFF PARKER
AVREEAYL RA
 |
HAMID DRAKE 
DOUGLAS EWART |
Sunday morning at 10:00 A.M. I was sitting in the front row of a small
room (small for a live Jazz performance) with all the seats filled and Jazz
fans standing far into the aisles for Bob Koesters arrival Jazz breakfast
brunch in the Jazz Record Mart. All of the performers were Delmark Records
recording artists. Tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson started things off with
Josh Abrams on bass and Isaiah Spencer on drums. After about twenty minutes
of Fred Anderson, tenor saxophonists Ari Brown jointed the trio for the
last half of the set. The second set was performed by Ernest Dawkins and
the New Horizon ensemble with Dawkins on alto and tenor saxophones, Steve
Berry on trombone, Darius Savage on bass and Isaiah Spenser on drums.
Leaving the Jazz Record Mart I caught a cab to Grant Park where I caught
two workshops at the Jazz and Heritage stage. The first one was "Percussion
Discussion" conducted by Avreeayl Ra. Avreeayl demonstrated a number
of African instruments by performing them and explaining how each one was
made and used. The second workshop entitled "Jazz History" was
conducted by Jimmy Ellis (photo at left) with his Quartet. Ellis,
who performed on alto and tenor saxophones and bass clarinet focused mostly
on performing rather than discussions and featured the fabulous yet little
known pianist Earma Thompson, Jimmy Willis on bass and William "Bugs"
Cochran on drums.
The Petrillo Music Shell opening act on Sunday was very brief and named
"Bass is the Place -- Remembering Malachi Favors Maghostut." It
featured four Chicago bass players, Tatsu Aoki, Harrison Bankhead, Yusef
Ben Israel and John Whitfield and one drummer, Avreeayl Ra. While in Chicago,
I learned of the death of another great Chicago bass player, Bill Yancey
who spent three years with Ella Fitzgerald.
Next on the Petrillo stage, tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson brought the
same group of musicians who performed the first set the previous night at
the Velvet Lounge, except this time they were performing before several
thousand fans at Grant Park! Fred began the set backed by Bankhead and Drake,
using his big muscles tone with startling melodies to perform chorus after
chorus before giving way to his New Orleans tenor sax brother Kidd Jordan.
This fiery tenor saxophonist is altogether different from Fred but thoroughly
original and unlike no other tenor saxophonists. Next came the best known
of the group, baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett with his big full sounds
and blues rich riffs. And to make the three saxophonists sound better, they
were accompanied by three of the finest on their instruments, Jeff Parkes
on guitar, Harrison Bankhead on bass and Hamid Drake on drums.
ROSWELL RUDD
 |
DON BYRON |
The next Petrillo set I caught Sunday at the Petrillo Stage was "the
Monksieland Band Honoring Steve Lacy" featuring Roswell Rudd on trombone,
Don Byron on clarinet, Dave Douglas on trumpet, Jean-Jacques Avenel on bass
and John Betsch on drums. Avenel and Betsch were life long members of Steve
Lacy's band. As the title of the set indicated, the group performed only
Thelonious Monk's compositions which Steve Lacy often performed, especially
when he collaborated with the late pianist Mal Waldron.
The headlines for Sunday's Petrillo Shell and the final act of the festival
was "Toshico Akiyoshi and the Chicago Jazz Orchestra." Toshico
and the orchestra performed Toshico compositions and arrangements formerly
performed by Toshico's Big Band. |
Sunday night after the fest at the Velvet Lounge was a special time for
me. Fred Anderson helped celebrate my 80th birthday with two huge cakes
more than enough for the entire standing room only audience and musicians.
The first set was performed by the same group as on the first set Saturday
night. The second set was a jam session with another long line of musicians
waiting to sit in. Among the more impressive musicians to sit in were the
outstanding young 21-year-old alto saxophonist Greg Ward, one of todays
top Jazz flutists, Nicole Mitchell, who always finds something new to play,
Galesburg vocalist Semenya McCord who upset the hip audience with her rendition
of John Coltran's "A Love Supreme" ably backed by Jeff Parker
on guitar, Cecile Savage on bass, four horn players and a drummer and finally
by one of the best blues harmonica players, Billy Branch, who wowed the
crowd with some down home swinging blues.
photos and article by Jimmy Jones
Jazz Now Interactive October 2004 Vol
14 No. 6 - Table of Contents