From its inception, the Hyde Park Jazz Festival has always dedicated portions of its programming to showcasing local talent. But this year, the festival will take that commitment another step forward, as some vital Chicago-based artists will play exclusive shows you can’t catch anywhere else.
“What really excites me about this year’s festival is that these artists are bringing people in from other parts of the country to collaborate on a special project—and Hyde Park is the only place that they’re doing that,” said Kate Dumbleton, the jazz festival’s director. She’s also proud that past logistical hurdles have been cleared, giving fans every opportunity to catch more shows without a hitch at 14 venues over two days.
“In 2012, there were too many shows that were running into each other, and that made people stressed,” Dumbleton said. “So last year we worked hard on programmatic cohesiveness, which allowed people to move easily from one show to another—and that stylistically and practically, would allow people to hang out for the day. That worked really well, so this year we’re continuing that.”
The University of Chicago’s Office of Civic Engagement provided support for grassroots efforts to launch the Hyde Park Jazz Festival. The OCE was the founding sponsor for the first festival in 2007 and is this year’s main sponsor.
“In recent years, the arts have become an increasingly important way that the University engages with our surrounding communities, and the Hyde Park Jazz Festival shines a spotlight on local talent as well as on cultural venues across our campus and the neighborhood,” said Derek Douglas, Vice President for Civic Engagement. “We’re delighted to have been part of this festival from the start.”
Hyde Park denizens also can point with pride to two artists with UChicago connections leading the way. Back again for 2014 is percussive maestro Dana Hall, PhD’10, an associate music professor at DePaul University. And Tomeka Reid will front a string trio in a highly anticipated concert; Reid was a recent artist-in-residence with UChicago’s Arts and Public Life and the Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture.
Reid, a cellist and composer, played last year with a quartet—but this year, less is indeed more. Her group, Here in Now, brings in violinist Mazz Swift from New York City and upright bassist Silvia Bolognesi from Italy. And the stage doesn’t get any more prominent, as they’ll play at the Logan Center Performance Hall Saturday from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m.
Hall also moves up to the Logan Center’s main stage, which seats 474, for a show later that day from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. His Black Ark Movement will take up an unusual and laudable task, as the set will celebrate the early ‘70s work of trumpeter Bobby Lee Bradford and clarinetist John Carter, both of whom played with Ornette Coleman. Finding and featuring their recorded work, which is extremely difficult to find, has been a labor of love for Hall.
“It’s some of the most challenging music I’ve ever played, and I’m very fortunate to get these special projects off the ground in association with the Hyde Park Jazz Festival,” says Hall. Black Ark’s set will include at least five songs from the duo, along with spontaneous compositions in that vein. As for the quintet, “We’ve not played together before in this configuration, so it’s a new project with new music and I’m very excited to present it.”
The festival expects to draw between 12,000 and 15,000 people, Dumbleton says, and also will include the Chicago premiere of pianist Craig Taborn. The concert promises to be awe-inspiring, as Taborn—the 2014 winner of the Jazz Journalist Association’s pianist of the year—will grace the stage at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel from 11 p.m. to midnight Saturday.
This year’s festival also gives fans a chance to leave their distinctive mark, with a Story-Share booth on the Midway Plaisance from 1 to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. There, attendees can share memories and tell stories related to jazz; the recordings should go online in the late fall on a special page linked to the festival’s website, according to Dumbleton.
“It’s special because it’s a way to document the music through people’s individual experiences,” she says of the project, made possible through a Joyce Foundation grant. Her contagious enthusiasm for Story-Share, in fact, reflects her high hopes for the fest itself.
“It’s a conceptually richer festival and we’ve expanded the ideas behind our platform,” she says, citing a long list of Chicago performers that run the jazz gamut from Dee Alexander to Hyde Park’s own Willie Pickens. “We’re investing in these local artists, and that’s special.”
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival runs from 1:30 p.m.-midnight Saturday, Sept. 27 and 1-8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 28, at venues on and near the UChicago Hyde Park campus. For more information, visit hydeparkjazzfestival.org or call (773) 324-6926.
—Prof. Kunle Odunsi
