Three-dozen performances and programs on 11 stages are planned across the neighborhood on September 24th-25th to celebrate the Hyde Park Jazz Festival’s 10th anniversary. The Festival will continue its Story Share and commissioning initiatives, as well as a new partnership with the Hyde Park Art Center that commissions visual artists to install site-specific work on Midway Plaisance.
Performances will be presented at: Smart Museum, Oriental Institute, DuSable Museum, Reva & David Logan Center for the Arts, Rockefeller Chapel, Little Black Pearl, Hyde Park Bank, Midway Plaisance, Hyde Park Union Church, and International House.
To celebrate its 10th Anniversary, the Hyde Park Jazz Festival has partnered with the Reva & David Logan Center for the Arts to commission composer and alto saxophonist Miguel Zenon to compose a series of pieces he will perform with Chicago’s own Spektral Quartet. Zenon’s new work will be inspired by music from the rural areas of Puerto Rico. The 60-minute full composition will be performed in the Logan Center’s Performance Hall on Saturday, September 24, 2016.
The 10th Anniversary of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival will feature performances from pioneering veterans and emerging talent. Major acts include Randy Weston in a solo performance in the stunning Rockefeller Chapel, as well as appearances by Iraqi-American trumpeter Amir El Saffar’s Two Rivers Ensemble, genre defying saxophonist Matana Roberts at the Logan Center for the Arts, and master trumpeter Tom Harrell with his TRIP ensemble on the Midway Plaisance. Chicago greats Willie Pickens, Dee Alexander, Orbert Davis, and Bobby Lewis will also perform.
As part of the 10th Anniversary celebration, several visual artists were invited to create and install work on the Midway Plaisance. This project builds on the Festival’s initial intent to explore unique and architecturally significant spaces and animate them with jazz and community. Three main projects have been selected for this inaugural year: Juan Angel Chavez, “Gramaphone”; Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford and Faheem Majeed, “Floating Museum”; and Sabina Ott, “Mountain Variation.”
Co-produced with the Hyde Park Jazz Society, this popular two-day festival grows more ambitious each year, earning it recognition as a major jazz presenter and essential cultural event in Chicago. With the active support and commitment of local businesses, cultural and academic institutions, over 300 community volunteers, and over 20,000 enthusiastic audience members, the Hyde Park Jazz Festival provides a unique setting for diverse interests, new projects, and heralded favorites to come together.
The 10th annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival remains FREE to the public through the support of the University of Chicago, corporate sponsors, and individual donors. A $5 donation per person is suggested to help sustain the festival’s future. To see the full schedule visit www.hydeparkjazzfestival.org/schedule.
