Update Wed 8/30: This piece has been updated to reflect the cancellation of Dianne Reeves’s headlining set on Fri 9/1.
The 2022 Chicago Jazz Festival was a heartening return to form for an event that hadn’t happened as usual since 2019. The weather held up, the crowds came out, and the programming did a fine job balancing a diversity of visions of what constitutes jazz. That success makes the conservatism of this year’s program doubly puzzling.
The festival runs free of charge Thursday, August 31, through Sunday, September 3, in Millennium Park and at the Chicago Cultural Center. And admittedly, the lineup checks plenty of important boxes. Student ensembles and young musicians will take their usual place on the Harris Theater rooftop early Saturday and Sunday—a vital acknowledgment of the players who will carry the genre forward. And the morning and afternoon programming Thursday at the Cultural Center and Friday through Sunday at the Von Freeman Pavilion (on the park’s north promenade) includes singer and keyboardist Alexis Lombre; trombonist Jeb Bishop leading a quartet with trumpeter Russ Johnson, bassist Jason Roebke, and drummer Isaiah Spencer; and small groups revisiting classic music by Horace Silver, Wes Montgomery, Louis Armstrong, and Sidney Bechet.
Chicago Jazz Festival
Thu 8/31, 11 AM-5:15 PM, Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington; Thu 8/31, 6:30-9 PM, Fri 9/1, 11:30 AM-9 PM, Sat 9/2 and Sun 9/3, 11 AM-9 PM, Millennium Park, 201 E. Randolph; free, all ages
The big names at Pritzker Pavilion include drummer Makaya McCraven, whose recent recordings reconcile the lushness of 70s film soundtracks with assertive hip-hop grooves; Kurt Elling, who will satisfy fans of vocal jazz by singing material from his 2021 album SuperBlue in collaboration with guitarist Charlie Hunter; Chicago-born saxophonist Chico Freeman, who’ll celebrate the centennial of his father, Von Freeman; octogenarian bassist Ron Carter, who’s been involved in a vast swath of jazz history; singer Billy Valentine, who’ll draw on more than half a century of socially and spiritually conscious soul, gospel, and jazz; and Juan de Marcos & the Afro-Cuban All Stars, who’ll get folks on their feet for the customary party-oriented closing set.
Despite that wide variety, though, the history of jazz is much better represented than its potential futures—and that’s especially disappointing, because avant-garde bookings are usually such a strong point for the festival. The programming committee is a collaboration between the Jazz Institute of Chicago and the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and it currently includes author and Reader contributor Aaron Cohen. He assures me this year’s bill doesn’t reflect a shift in priorities. “Each year, the committee tries to balance performance idioms, generations, and instruments,” Cohen says. “We don’t book headliners who have headlined in the last five years.”
That said, the 2023 lineup doesn’t have a paradigm-shifting figure on the level of past festival performers Ornette Coleman, Roscoe Mitchell, or Henry Threadgill. It gets close with 79-year-old Chicago saxophonist and pianist Ari Brown, an esteemed player who’s worked in avant-garde settings—and who’s also a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, which has supported Black musical self-determination since the 1960s. Brown has had a great year, working as a guest soloist with Joshua Abrams’s Natural Information Society and in a new trio with Abrams and drummer Mike Reed. But his Friday-evening Pritzker Pavilion appearance with his regular quintet will celebrate his own rich history rather than explore the directions he might still take the music in the future.
This year’s Jazz Festival does the most to honor the pursuit of transformation and reinvention that makes jazz a living art form by giving a Saturday-evening Pritzker Pavilion set to South African composer and pianist Nduduzo Makhathini. His trio consists of drummer Francisco Mela and bassist Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere, and his music combines Zulu ceremonial forms and celebratory township grooves with a spiritual intensity inspired by John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. The Cuban-born Mela, who appeared here as part of Experimental Sound Studio’s Option series earlier this month, drummed for pianist McCoy Tyner from 2009 till 2019, and more recently, he’s made electrifying free-jazz recordings with Zoh Amba, Matthew Shipp, and William Parker—he’s a living link to Makhathini’s American inspirations.
Every year, Chicago’s jazz clubs do their best to keep the festival vibe going into the night by hosting jam sessions and other concerts. And recently the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events has partnered with local venues and organizations, via the Citywide Jazz Community Funding Program, to present free concerts around town in the days leading up to the fest.
One show of special note this year is an Elastic Arts set on Tuesday, August 29, by fearless free improvisers Extraordinary Popular Delusions, who’ll welcome the return of saxophonist Mars Williams after an eight-month hiatus for cancer treatment. And on Friday, September 1, Mike Reed’s Big Gig convenes a celebratory repertory band that will turn material by Duke Ellington, Sun Ra, Michael Moore, and Tobias Delius into a party at the Green Mill. I’ve collected some more highlights from outside the festival below.
Thursday, August 24
Gary Bartz 8 and 10 PM, Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Ct., $30, VIP $45, 21+
Friday, August 25
Gary Bartz 8 and 10 PM, Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Ct., $35, VIP $50, 21+
Saturday, August 26
Gary Bartz 8 and 10 PM, Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Ct., $35, VIP $50, 21+
Sunday, August 27
Gary Bartz 4 and 8 PM, Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Ct., $35, VIP $50, 21+
Dave Rempis, Joshua Abrams, and Avreeayl Ra with Jim Baker 9 PM, Hungry Brain, 2319 W. Belmont, $10, 21+
The Rempis/Abrams/Ra trio with Jim Baker released this track on the 2022 album Scylla.
Monday, August 28
Jazz Festival Citywide: Coco Elysses Elixir Ensemble With Alexis Lombre, Casper, Adam Zanolini, and Keya Trammel. 8 PM, Elastic Arts, 3429 W. Diversey #208, free, all ages
Tuesday, August 29
Jazz Festival Citywide: Extraordinary Popular Delusions featuring Mars Williams 8 PM, Elastic Arts, 3429 W. Diversey #208, free, all ages
Extraordinary Popular Delusions released this track on the 2020 compilation Building a Better Reality.
Matt Ulery, Quin Kirchner, and Julius Tucker, followed by the Whistler Jam 8 PM, the Whistler, 2421 N. Milwaukee, free, 21+
Wednesday, August 30
Jazz Festival Citywide: Isaiah ^2 With Isaiah Spencer and Isaiah Collier. 8 PM, Elastic Arts, 3429 W. Diversey #208, free, all ages
Nick Mazzarella, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, and Avreeayl Ra 8:30 PM, Constellation, 3111 N. Western, $15, 18+
Javier Red Quartet 8 and 10 PM, Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Ct., $20, student $15, VIP $30, 21+
Thursday, August 31
Dave Rempis, Jason Adasiewicz, Joshua Abrams, and Tyler Damon Also streaming live. 8:30 PM, Elastic Arts, 3429 W. Diversey #208, $15, all ages
After Fest Jam Session hosted by Bobby Watson 9 PM, Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Ct., $25, VIP $40, 21+
Friday, September 1
After Fest Jam Session hosted by Bobby Watson 9 PM, Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Ct., $30, VIP $45, 21+
Mike Reed’s Big Gig With Greg Ward, Hunter Diamond, Keefe Jackson, Cole Degenova, and Christian Dillingham. 8 PM, the Green Mill, 4802 N. Broadway, $15, 21+
Saturday, September 2
