From the moment of its inception, in the summer of 1979, the Chicago Jazz Festival has been the proverbial good idea-one that blends cooperation and common sense with a great deal of creative dreaming and yields results that are even more valuable than the sum of its already imposing parts.
All of those good ideas, and several new ones, will be part of the Ninth Annual Chicago Jazz Festival, which will take place Wednesday through Sunday at the Petrillo Music Shell in Grant Park.
Consider, for openers, how the very first Chicago Jazz Fest came to be.
The Jazz Institute of Chicago, the non-profit organization that still retains control over the creative side of the fest, was planning to mount a two-night festival in Grant Park toward the end of August-which would feature some of Chicago`s best jazz performers and be free to the public, thanks to the sponsorship of the American Federation of Musicians.
Meanwhile, two other jazz events also were in the works, the sixth in an annual series of salutes to the music of Duke Ellington and a concert that would pay tribute to the late John Coltrane and Wes Montgomery.
Enter good ideas Nos. 1 and 2-or Nos. 2 and 3, if you count ”free to the public” as No. 1. Envisioning a fest that would combine all of these concerts, the board of the Jazz Institute asked the Mayor`s Office of Special Events if the city would be willing to provide enough funds to bring in some notable out-of-town acts.
The answer was ”yes” and, in a bout of fruitfully hectic improvisation, a seven-night jazz festival emerged, featuring performances by Benny Goodman, Little Brother Montgomery, Lee Konitz, Mel Torme, McCoy Tyner, Benny Carter, Muhal Richard Abrams and Art Hodes.
As a glance at that lineup suggests, another good idea had been at work all along-for almost the entire history of the music was represented (from traditional jazz to the avant garde), and no artist was there merely because he or she was currently popular.
In contrast to the prepackaged formats that prevail at most jazz fests, that drive to be historically comprehensive and to maintain high artistic standards while still pleasing the public is the chief reason the Chicago Jazz Festival has become an internationally celebrated event. But if it makes sense to select the very best bands from those that are available, why not dream a little and make something wonderful happen that otherwise would not exist?
So, over the years, the Chicago Jazz Festival has reunited Earl Hines`
famous Grand Terrace Orchestra, with Hines at the piano; mounted a concert that paid tribute to Chicago`s most important teacher of jazz, the late Capt. Walter Dyett of Du Sable High School; commissioned an orchestral work from composer Randy Weston that was written for, and performed by, Dizzy Gillespie; and made possible the first performance in 20 years of arranger Hall Overton`s remarkable settings of Thelonious Monk compositions-to name only a few of the many creative steps the Chicago Jazz Fest has taken.
In the same adventurous vein, the fest also has tried to make American audiences aware of the kinds of jazz that are played in other countries-presenting English trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton, Dutch pianist Misha Mengelberg, the duo of Spanish pianist Tete Montoliu and Danish bassist Nils- Henning Orsted Pederson and Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval.
So let`s take a look at the best that this year`s event has to offer.
Continuing a tradition that was inaugurated in 1985 by Buddy Rich and was followed last year by Joe Williams, the opening act of this year`s fest will be a ”name” artist-Dave Brubeck, whose quartet includes clarinetist Bill Smith, a member of the pioneering octet that Brubeck led in the early 1950s.
Another first-night highlight should be the quintet led by Chicago`s young demon of bebop, 23-year-old trumpeter Brad Goode, which features veteran pianist Jodie Christian and the often-daring tenor saxophone work of Lin Halliday. And the fest`s first night will conclude with its first foreign band, Irakere from Cuba. The concert will begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Surveying the fest`s second night, which also begins at 6 p.m., one wonders whether the final act, ”A Tribute to Jazz at the Philharmonic,” will permanently alter the landscape of Grant Park-because in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the battles between this band`s pair of tenor saxophonists, Illinois Jacquet and Flip Phillips, stirred more visceral excitement than any music this side of rock and roll.
The JATP phenomenon began, recalls the 65-year-old Jacquet, when impresario Norman Granz put on a benefit concert at Los Angeles` Philharmonic Auditorium in 1944, during which Jacquet took a stomping blues solo, replete with screaming high notes ”and the audience became very enthused by what I was doing.”
Unbeknownst to the musicians, that concert was recorded, and when it was released two years later, ”it hit,” Jacquet says, ”like an atomic bomb”-
prompting the first in a series of nationwide Jazz at the Philharmonic tours. Previously a star with Woody Herman`s Band, Phillips joined the troupe in 1947, and night after night, he and Jacquet strove to surpass themselves with their guttural, honking, but still musical, tenor battles.
”Yes,” Jacquet says, ”Flip and I were friendly rivals all the way. But when we got up there, the people thought it was like two prize fighters squaring off. They enjoyed the challenge, and we did, too.”
Also likely to be special on the fest`s second night are the quartet led by clarinetist John Carter and trumpeter Bobby Bradford, who are among jazz`s most thoughtful avant-gardists, and the trio of young Chicago pianist-composer Oliver Williams.
Not well-known as yet, even in his hometown, Williams was performing
”live” last winter on WBEZ disc-jockey Larry Smith`s show when McCoy Tyner happened to tune in and was so impressed by Williams` music that he drove to the studio to meet him. A fluent soloist, Williams is an even more intriguing composer, whose pieces have a poignant, storytelling quality that recalls the work of Herbie Nichols and Mary Lou Williams.
Borrowing a good idea from this year`s Chicago Blues Festival, this year`s Jazz Fest will be a day-and-night affair Friday through Sunday, with groups performing from noon to 5:30 p.m. at a stage located at Jackson Boulevard and Lake Shore Drive. So a list of Friday`s potential highlights begins with an afternoon act, guitarist Sam Thomas` Spaceship Love, which includes a remarkable 15-year-old organist, Wayman Davis.
Friday evening`s concert, which begins at 6 p.m., concludes with the quintet led by today`s most popular young jazz musician, trumpter Wynton Marsalis-who, as they say, needs no introduction. But Marsalis will be preceded by two intriguing bands that definitely need to be introduced-David Dallwitz`s Southern Jazz Group and the Bill Kirchner Nonet with Sheila Jordan. Kirchner`s New York-based ensemble features his graceful solo work on soprano and tenor saxophones, but it`s his writing that really catches the ear-stemming from the work of the famous Miles Davis Nonet of the late 1940s but marked by a host of subtle sonic colors that are all Kirchner`s own. As for Jordan, she is, with the possible exception of Sarah Vaughan, the most inventive female jazz singer around.
The Kirchner Nonet is less celebrated than it should be. But Dallwitz`s Southern Jazz Group is almost unknown in this country, because ”Southern” in this case refers to South Australia-specifically the city of Adelaide, where Dallwitz, who is now 73 years old, formed his first band in 1945.
Inspired by Jelly Roll Morton and Duke Ellington, Dallwitz`s music at first seems to be in the revivalist, traditional-jazz vein. But while his compositions have models in the jazz past, they are essentially independent creations-free from nostalgia and bristling with a dense formal detail that never ceases to fascinate.
”Most bands that play traditional jazz try to faithfully copy what was happening in the 1920s,” Dallwitz says. ”But there`s something about my feelings for it that makes me add a little bit extra.”
Geographically and professionally isolated from the rest of the jazz scene (Dallwitz teaches art at Adelaide University, and his superb
clarinetist, Tas Brown, is a professor of dental science at the same institution), the Southern Jazz Group seems to come from an alternate universe-one in which all sorts of previously untapped possibilities from the jazz past are fully explored. Their music is guaranteed to be a revelation.
Dallwitz also will perform on Saturday afternoon, emphasizing his more ragtime-based material. But Saturday`s key figure will be drummer-bandleader Art Blakey-who will present the current edition of his Jazz Messengers Saturday night and then be joined by a sterling group of Messenger alumni, including trumpeters Bill Hardman and Woody Shaw, tenor saxophonist Benny Golson, trombonist Julian Priester, pianist Walter Davis Jr. and bassist Reggie Workman. This promises to be an unforgettable set.
Also notable on Saturday night`s bill are the trio of Chicago pianist Willie Pickens and this year`s third group of visitors from abroad, the Globe Unity Orchestra.
Directed by West German pianist Alex Schlippenbach, Globe Unity is a deliriously avant-garde ensemble that includes musicians from six other countries (Japan, Italy, France, England, Canada and the United States). The trombone section alone is a who`s who of the international avant-garde (Albert Mangelsdorff and Gunter Christmann from West Germany and George Lewis from Chicago), while the sax section features England`s Evan Parker, whose brutally intense, technically astonishing improvisations once led a critic to describe him as ”a Sonny Rollins from hell.”
On Sunday afternoon, Chicago alto saxophonist Mike Smith, a devoted disciple of the late Cannonball Adderley, will realize a longtime dream when he shares the stand with Cannonball`s brother, cornetist Nat Adderley.
Then the fest winds up Sunday night with a typically wide-ranging program that will begin with the blues of guitarist Curtis Robinson and the latin-jazz of the Mambo Express All-Stars, followed by the group co-led by pianist Joanne Brackeen and alto saxophonist Gary Bartz, the trio of violinist Stephane Grappelli, and The Leaders (trumpeter Lester Bowie, alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe, tenor saxophonist Chico Freeman, pianist Kirk Lightsey, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Don Moye).
Finally, we have the icing on the cake, tenor-saxophone giant Dexter Gordon and some of the musicians with whom he played in the film ” `Round Midnight” (vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Billy Higgins).
If, for some reason, you can`t attend all of this year`s festival events, be advised that the evening concerts will be broadcast live on WBEZ (91.5 FM) and be carried nationwide on the National Public Radio network.
Be advised, too, that even though we`ve mentioned some of the fest`s likely highlights, there is no guarantee that, say, the Bob Stone Big Band
(which leads off Thursday night`s concert) or the Chicago All-Stars or the Emmanuel Cranshaw Quintet (which perform, respectively, on Friday and Sunday afternoons) won`t turn out to be the groups that really tear things up. In fact, the one thing that can be guaranteed is that every act at this year`s fest has a good musical reason to be there.
SOUNDS OF THE CITY: JAZZ FEST `87
Here is the complete lineup for the Ninth Annual Chicago Jazz Festival, which will take place Wednesday through Sunday at the Petrillo Music Shell in Grant Park, with afternoon concerts at the ”Jazz on Jackson” Stage, Jackson Boulevard and Lake Shore Drive.
Evening concerts begin at 6 p.m. and end at 10:30 p.m., except for Sunday`s concert, which begins at 5 p.m. Afternoon concerts begin at noon and end at 5:30 p.m., except for Sunday`s concert, which ends at 4:30 p.m.
Wednesday evening: Dave Brubeck Quartet, Brade Goode Quintet, Janice Borla Quintet, New Music Songbook, Irakere.
Thursday evening: Bob Stone Big Band, Joel Spencer Quartet, Oliver Williams Trio, John Carter-Bobby Bradford Quartet, Jazz at the Philharmonic Revisited.
Friday afternoon: Darlene Blackburn and the Sun Dancers, Spaceship Love, Mark Colby-Frank Caruso and Co., Chicago All-Stars.
Friday evening: Ellington Dynasty, Magic Slim, David Dallwitz`s Southern Jazz Group, Bill Kirchner Nonet with Sheila Jordan, Wynton Marsalis Quintet.
Saturday afternoon: Inner Drive, New Horizons Ensemble; David Dallwitz`s Ragtime Band; Irene Reid with Red Holloway.
Saturday evening: John Defauw Sextet, Willie Pickens Trio, Globe Unity Orchestra, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Blakey and the Jazz Messengers Alumni.
Sunday afternoon: Lester Stephens, Emmanuel Cranshaw Quintet, Mike Smith Quintet with Nat Adderley.
Sunday evening: Curtis Robinson Quintet, Mambo Express All-Stars, Joanne Brackeen with Gary Bartz, Stephane Grappelli, The Leaders, Dexter Gordon and the ” `Round Midnight” Band.
