Chicago Jazz Festival 2011: Slide show
The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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The 30th annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park on Saturday, September 3, 2011.
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09/05/2011
The Jazz Festival’s return to Grant Park Saturday brought to mind a question once posed by the comedian David Cross: “Can you tell me if this is the line for the beer, or the line to get the tickets to get the beer?” The Grant Park version of Jazz Fest had all the summer festival trimmings that the Millennium Park shows lacked, the jazz served up alongside plenty of ribs, cheeseburgers, bank promotional offers, and art gallery booths filled with beads and summer dresses. One hopes that some of the proceeds went to the musicians, who are still learning how to navigate a disintegrating industry with fewer ways to get paid everyday. That fact was brought home when Orbert Davis announced the title of his Chicago Jazz Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra’s set opener: “It was for a car commercial. 2007 Inifiniti G. Hey the call came and I did it!”
The joke was a hit because Davis’ orchestra was strong enough to render moot any concerns about crass commercialism. The huge, well rehearsed group, inspired by Miles Davis’ classic collaborations with Gil Evans, moved easily through a series of jazz/classical fusions. Davis was an amiable presence onstage, patiently defending himself against imagined foes: “You jazz purists saying we gotta blow! If we gotta use different colors, we do that!” A highlight was a Mozart-inspired tune called “Amadeus Had A Dream” (“I think he was a jazz musician,” Davis proclaimed) featuring a string quartet that was eventually overcome by a sneaky, swinging rhythm section. Young violinist Zach Brock (a former student of Davis’ at Northwestern) was featured prominently throughout, and for good reason. He brings a fresh approach to the instrument (perhaps influenced by studying with Davis, a trumpeter) with soaring solos that elicited the strongest ovations of the night.
Preceding Davis on the Petrillo Music Shell Stage was Trio 3 with Geri Allen, an outside-leaning supergroup featuring Andrew Cyrille on drums, Reggie Workman on bass, Oliver Lake on saxophone and Allen on piano. Allen somehow performed at the Detroit Jazz Festival at noon before making it to the Petrillo for this set at 6pm, and the band warmed up with a quick run through of Eric Dolphy’s “Gazzeloni.” Then it was time for a set of songs by legendary jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams, the subject of their recent release “Celebrating Mary Lou Williams: Live at Birdland New York” (Intakt). “Intermission” showed the band in fine form, finding the flow in an off-kilter rhythm. Allen’s solo on “What’s Your Story, Morning Glory” was the high point of the entire evening, somehow technically showy and virtuosic while still anchored in a deeply felt appreciation of the blues. The Oliver Lake tune “Flow” seemed to answer a question likely in the minds of many who heard the Dolphy opener: What if Dolphy hadn’t passed away at the height of his powers? He might have been on this stage today, playing much the same way Lake did on “Flow,” alternately fluid and screeching, and always surprising.
Highlights from earlier in the day included the Miguel De La Cerna Quartet, the first act that made me want to lay my blanket down and stay put for awhile. Harrison Bankhead on bass anchored a propulsive rhythm section that laid a nice groundwork for De La Cerna’s piano and his wife Sylvia’s lovely violin, especially on the aptly named “For Sylvia.” The Jazz And Heritage stage also featured a danceable set by Latin Inspiration, a “salsa dura” band (think 70’s New York/Cuban salsa, as featured in the popular ongoing Fania reissue series.) It’s an engaging style that deserves it’s recent popular resurgence, and the local Latin community was out in force to support the band, who had trouble finding enough CDs to sell after the set.
Disappointments included former Chicagoan Maurice Brown’s band Effect, with Brown’s confusing hip-hop posturing and slightly silly song introductions marring an otherwise competent hard bop set. Also, the sound at the aging Petrillo was a problem all evening long, finally resulting in an echoey mess that obscured the charms of vocalist Cassandra Wilson’s small group, which closed out the festivities Saturday night.
