Call it the Incredible Shrinking Jazz Festival.
On its 20th anniversary, the Chicago Jazz Festival which runs Thursday through Sept. 6 — has had its wings clipped once again. Performances used to run each evening until 10 p.m.; this time the park will close at 9:30 p.m.
The Mayor’s Office of Special Events, which produces the Grant Park music festivals, made the move on behalf of the growing number of citizens who live downtown and could do without the late-night crowds.
For the festival, however, that means yet another diminution in an event that once stretched seven days and ranked as the best in America. Today, the Chicago Jazz Festival is dwarfed by younger, bigger and more innovative fests in New York, San Francisco, Montreal, Vancouver and beyond. The Jazz Institute of Chicago, which helps program the festiival, has proved incapable of creatively rejuvenating an event that subsists on a small budget ($182,000 for performance fees).
The festival’s chief virtue is that it’s free. Considering the uneven acoustics in Grant Park, however, would anyone pay?
The best way to hear the music, in fact, is not in Grant Park but over the airwaves, with WBEZ (91.5 FM) broadcasting the Petrillo Music Shell concerts live. Jazz pianist Marian McPartland will serve as guest host.
For those who like to see what they hear, the best advice is to arrive early for shows at the Petrillo Music Shell (Columbus Drive and Jackson Boulevard) and the Jazz on Jackson stage (just east ofPetrillo, on Jackson Boulevard).
Following is a critical guide to this year’s event. For more information, phone the Mayor’s Office of Special Events at 312-744-3315.
In addition, a Jazz Club Tour will run from 6 to 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. Phone the Jazz Institute of Chicago at 312-427-1676 for details.
THURSDAY, Sept. 3
Petrillo Music Shell
6 p.m. Eric Schneider/Eddie Johnson Quintet. Two of Chicago’s most esteemed saxophonists represent different generations but nevertheless epitomize the city’s aggressive tenor sound.
7 p.m. McCoy Tyner. One of the foremost pianists in jazz plays a solo set. Normally, that would be reason to rejoice, but how will the sound of a solo piano fare in the acoustically challenged Petrillo Music Shell?
8:20 p.m. Nancy Wilson, Mike Smith. This tribute to alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley features two artists with links to him. Singer Wilson recorded with Adderley. Chicago saxophonist Smith has collaborated with the altoist’s brother, cornetist Nat Adderley, in many Cannonball tributes. Unfortunately, Nat has bowed out of this performance, due to illness.
FRIDAY, Sept. 4
Petrillo Music Shell
6 p.m. The Awakening. Reunion of a band staffed by pianist Ken Chaney, trumpeter Frank Gordon, saxophonist Ari Brown, trombonist Steve Galloway, bassist Reggie Willis and drummer Arlington Davis Jr.
7 p.m. Irakere. Only the formidable Cuban pianist Chucho Valdes remains as an original member of the band. Nevertheless, Valdes — a monumental presence on the keyboard — always is worth hearing.
8:20 p.m. Branford Marsalis Quartet. The saxophonist has flailed about in so many musical idioms — from cliched rock and hip-hop to TV background music for Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” — that his impact as a jazz musician has been minimized. He’ll perform with pianist Kenny Kirkland, drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts and bassist Eric Reeves.
SATURDAY, Sept. 5
Jazz on Jackson Stage
Noon. Karl Montzka Quartet. The rising young Chicago organist will be joined by brother Eric Montzka on drums, plus innovative guitarist John McLean and bass trumpeter Ryan Schultz.
1:10 p.m. Andy Goodrich Quintet. After a long career as jazz educator, saxophonist Goodrich recently jumped back into full-time performance.
2:15 p.m. Paul Asaro/Jon Weber. Two keyboard virtuosos play solo tributes to Chicago boogie wizard Albert Ammons.
3:30 p.m. Frank Lacy/Charles Davis. The adventurous trombonist and versatile saxophonist are joined by Chicago pianist Willie Pickens’ trio.
Petrillo Music Shell
5 p.m. Andy Bey/Geraldine de Haas. The Chicago Cultural Center last year reunited the brother-sister vocalists, who return here for an encore performance. Considering the warmth of Bey’s baritone and the sophistication of De Haas’ alto, this could be a high point of this year’s festival.
6 p.m. Lee Konitz and Martial Solal. Though the art of the duo has a long and distinguished tradition in jazz, the format turns up infrequently these days. This booking features two formidable veterans: Konitz, a sublime melodist of the alto saxophone, and pianist Solal, an imposing technician.
7:05 p.m. Shadow Vignettes. A glorious large ensemble, the Shadow Vignettes is headed by Edward Wilkerson Jr. and gathers instrumentalists from the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). The repertoire will include a newly commissioned piece by Wilkerson featuring Chicago tenorists Von Freeman and Fred Anderson. They’ll be backed by some of the most impressive players in Chicago jazz, including reedists Wilkerson, Vandy Harris, Ernest Dawkins, Mwata Bowden and Ari Brown; trumpeters David Spencer, Ameen Muhammad, Rod McGaha and Robert Griffin; plus a battery of percussionists, strings and voices.
8:20 p.m. Roy Hargrove Sextet. The trumpeter has been heard frequently in the Chicago area, most recently in William Russo’s 70th birthday tribute. But the Jazz Festival has been slow to pick up on Hargrove’s progress, belatedly booking this festival debut; Hargrove will appear with trombonist Frank Lacy and alto saxophonist Sherman Irby.
SUNDAY, Sept. 6
Jazz on Jackson Stage
Noon. Terry Callier and Beyond. Terry Callier — one of the most creative singer-songwriters to have come out of Chicago in the past 30 years — should be headlining in prime time on the Petrillo Music Shell. Instead, he has been relegated to one of the worst slots on the secondary stage. Bad move.
1:10 p.m. Jose Valdes Latin Jazztet. Here’s another artist — a first-rate pianist-arranger who writes beautifully idiosyncratic scores — who deserves a more prominent place on the Jazz Festival schedule.
2:15 p.m. NRG Ensemble. Though the band’s founder, the late Hal Russell, is sorely missed, the iconoclastic spirit of this ensemble endures.
3:30 p.m. John Campbell Trio with Ed Petersen. Petersen, an audacious tenor saxophonist and former Chicagoan who now lives in New Orleans, and Campbell, a brilliant pianist who recently returned to Chicago from the East Coast, reunite.
Petrillo Music Shell
5 p.m. Grazyna Auguscik. She’s a talented Chicago singer whose still-fledgling career makes one wonder why she was booked on the mainstage.
6 p.m. Sun Ra Tribute. The spiritual father of avant-grade music in Chicago, who died in 1993, will be honored by several musicians who performed with him, including Marshall Allen, Julian Priester and Art Hoyle. Considering that the tribute band will be playing for less than an hour, can this be a serious investigation of Ra’s immense oeuvre?
7:05 p.m. Lou Donaldson Quartet. The under-appreciated but deeply original alto saxophonist returns to the Jazz Festival and will be joined by organist Lonnie Smith.
8:20 p.m. Randy Weston’s “African Sunrise.” The Chicago Jazz Festival recycles a suite that it commissioned in its more illustrious past, with Weston returning for a reprise of his “African Sunrise.” Trumpeter Claudio Roditi will take the Dizzy Gillespie role, with the Chico O’Farrill Orchestra.
