For listeners who value sophisticated, literate music, it was a very good year.
Despite these recessionary times, jazz and cabaret managed to prosper in Chicago and across the United States, an indication that America continues to rediscover and reappraise its musical legacy.
Consider just a few developments:
– The Ravinia Festival in Highland Park offered its second annual Jazz in June series, an ingeniously programmed, 10-day event that already has drawn national attention for presenting the best in acoustic jazz. Beyond notable appearances by Benny Carter, Frank Morgan and Dave Brubeck, beyond a marathon concert of Dizzy Gillespie`s music (which Gillespie was too ill to attend), Jazz in June made history with the world premiere of ”Re-Birth of the Cool.” This re-examination of Miles Davis` classic ”Birth of the Cool” album, featuring many of the artists involved in the original, was one of the year`s artistic high points and a coup for the Chicago area. Jazz in June creator Zarin Mehta and music director Gerry Mulligan deserve great credit for giving Chicago a series of this stature and for positioning it for future growth.
– Jazz rooms continued to proliferate throughout Chicago, with new spots such as Jazz Oasis and Inta`s (both on the Near North Side) joining the fray. Meanwhile, relatively new rooms such as the Bop Shop (on West Division Street), HotHouse (North Milwaukee Avenue) and Southend Musicworks (South Wabash) continued to flourish.
– Cabaret, once considered a dusty musical genre of the `30s through the
`50s, made remarkable strides in 1992. Longtime Chicago restaurateur Bob Djahanguiri developed a three-venue cabaret circuit featuring rotating performers at Yvette (on North State Parkway), Toulouse (on West Division Street) and, the newest of the lot, Yvette Wintergarden (on South Wacker Drive).
The Fairmont Hotel, which had abandoned its entertainment policy a few years ago, got back into the business with its chic Metropole Bar. The legendary Pump Room, in the Ambassador East Hotel, offered several first-class cabaret shows, while the Mayfair Regent Hotel returned to cabaret performances after several years without.
And several excellent visiting artists gave unforgettable performances here, including Julie Wilson`s searing show in March at the Gold Star Sardine Bar and Andrea Marcovicci`s haunting performance of the song cycle Maury Yeston wrote for her, ”December Songs,” at the Goodman Theatre.
– Anniversary celebrations were overflowing in 1992, with the Modern Jazz Quartet celebrating its 40th in Orchestra Hall (though the absence of percussionist Connie Kay, due to illness, hurt); Dizzy Gillespie`s friends marking his 75th birthday during the aforementioned Ravinia concert; Joe Segal noting his 45th year of presenting jazz in Chicago with an all-star concert in the Auditorium Theatre; Chicago-based Jazz Unites, Inc., marking its 15th anniversary with a brilliant Ellington concert in the Field Museum, in June;
and Chicago jazz legends Von Freeman and Franz Jackson celebrating their 70th and 80th birthdays, respectively.
– Latin jazz enjoyed a resurgence, too, thanks, in part, to the movie
”Mambo Kings.” On the heels of the film`s publicity, giants such as Tito Puente and Pancho Sanchez played sold-out shows in Orchestra Hall and the Chicago Theatre. The annual Viva! Chicago Festival in Grant Park, in September, similarly drew huge crowds.
– The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra embarked on its first national tour, underscoring the significance of Lincoln Center`s new jazz wing. Like no other institution in the United States, Lincoln Center has created year-round, subscription series devoted to the past, present and future of jazz. If those concerts are as persuasive as the Jazz Orchestra`s September performance in Orchestra Hall (with Lincoln Center artistic director Wynton Marsalis in the horn section) the series should flourish. Not since Duke Ellington led his own ensemble have his major works been performed with such authenticity and spirit.
– The Bravo cable service nurtured and expanded its commitment to broadcasting jazz concerts.
– Perhaps most encouraging of all, concerts in Chicago and elsewhere indicated a burst of young talent devoting their energies to jazz. Locally, young artists such as bandleader Rob Parton, trumpeters Brad Goode and Orbert Davis and percussionist Jeff Stitely, among many others, performed at remarkably high levels. Nationally, trumpeters Roy Hargrove and Nicholas Payton, guitarist John Hart, saxophonists Christopher Hollyday and Chris Potter, pianist Marcus Roberts, the Harper Brothers band and scores more also transcended expectations.
– Even middle-aged jazz artists seemed to get their due in `92, with tenor saxophone great Joe Henderson presented three Down Beat Critics Poll Awards in August at the Jazz Showcase; alto saxophonist Bobby Watson emerging as a major star, after long years in the business; and Ruth Brown making a heroic comeback after painful surgery on both knees.
Not that all is well and right in jazz. One of the biggest disappointments concerns Orchestra Hall, which seems utterly oblivious to America`s growing interest in jazz. While institutions such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., have created jazz seasons of varying scope, Orchestra Hall has actually cut its already limited lineup of jazz offerings.
And the Chicago Jazz Festival, once the foremost event of its kind in the country, this year was reduced to three days, though it had run a full seven days in years past. Worse, the first day was sponsored by WNUA Radio (95.5)
and GRP Records, ”smooth jazz” organizations that demeaned the jazz festival by booking such pop-shlock acts as Spyro Gyra.
Sadly, Chicago lost one of its protean musicians in September with the death of Hal Russell, the intrepid avant-gardist.
But one couldn`t help being consoled by the sheer depth of jazz talent in Chicago, with artists as diverse as pianists Willie Pickens and Art Hodes, saxophonists Ed Petersen and Eric Schneider, drummer Barrett Deems, multi-instrumentalists Ed Wilkerson, Jr., Malachi Thompson and Mwata Bowden, the splendid Jazz Members Big Band and JazzTech Big Band and scores more.
