Last year the Chicago Jazz Festival uprooted itself from Grant Park, its home since its launch in 1979, and moved to a relatively confined but more comfortable space in Millennium Park. Despite some growing pains—sound bleed between stages, a hard-to-find new spot for the Young Jazz Lions Pavilion on the roof of the Harris Theater—the change was welcome. Pritzker Pavilion has far better sight lines and sound quality than the Petrillo Music Shell, and the side stages got upgraded too—in Millennium Park they have much more seating, and they’re located inside weatherproof tents big enough to shelter the crowd as well as the performers.
Hammond B-3 organist Chris Foreman has emerged from the well-kept-secret files to become one of the most beloved musicians on the Chicago jazz scene. A greasy-fingered traditionalist in the Jimmy Smith mold, his heart is in blues-based soul jazz, a style he positively owns—but he can also shape-shift to tackle relatively more modern material, as he proved in the defunct Deep Blue Organ Trio. Today Foreman plays with his working trio: drummer Alex Mills and guitarist Joel Patterson (whose own trio has the exact same lineup). —John Corbett
Chicago Cultural Center: Randolph Cafe
1:30 PM | Erwin Helfer/ John Brumbach Duo
Pianist and singer Judy Roberts and saxophonist Greg Fishman left Chicago for Phoenix, Arizona, in 2007, and fans of their intimate interplay still celebrate the duo’s return visits. —Peter Margasak
Pritzker Pavilion
6:30 PM | Homage to Nelson Mandela: Ernest Dawkins’s Memory in the Center, an Afro Jazz Opera
A stalwart sideman in innumerable adventurous bands for the past 15 years, bassist Joshua Abrams has come into his own as a leader since 2010, when he released the LP Natural Information (Eremite). A born bridge builder with intergenre inclinations, in some contexts Abrams brings together hypnotic drone and free improvisation; in others he opts for a more driving jazz-based mode. This quartet, with sensational vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, powerhouse tenor saxophonist David Boykin, and multifaceted drummer Frank Rosaly, is a meeting of like minds, and the 2010 CD Unknown Known (RogueArt) proves it. —John Corbett
Young Jazz Lions Pavilion
Thu 8/28 Noon-9 PM Chicago Cultural Center, Roosevelt University’s Ganz Hall (430 S. Michigan, seventh floor), and Pritzker Pavilion
Fri 8/29 Noon-10 PM Millennium Park
Sat 8/30 11:30 AM-10 PM Millennium Park
Sun 8/31 11:30 AM-10 PM Millennium Park
Millennium Park stages: Pritzker Pavilion, the Von Freeman Pavilion (on the south promenade), the Jazz & Heritage Pavilion (on the north promenade), and the Young Jazz Lions Pavilion (on the roof of the Harris Theater).
All performances are free and open to all ages.
