By TOM BOWSER
September 3 - September 6, 2015
People from all over the world attend the Chicago Jazz Festival, one of the largest free jazz festivals in the United States. You can see diverse jazz styles played by local, national, and international musicians. The performance venues range from small and intimate to large outdoor events held at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, which offers comfortable seating & plenty of bathrooms. The atmosphere is friendly, with great food and a variety of hotels within walking distance of the festival events.
One of my favorite non music events during last years Chicago Jazz Festival was a film screening of director Robert Mugge's film "Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise". Robert attended the screening and answered questions about the film and his experience working with Sun Ra and his band.
I was fortunate to see the internationally known jazz legend Sun Ra perform before he passed on to the "omniverse." Sun Ra influenced countless great jazz musicians including the internationally known (Chicago native) bassist Richard Davis. One night, many years ago, I produced live sound for an event at which Richard Davis and Roscoe Mitchell performed. That night reignited my interest in jazz music.
The following are a few of the musicians my wife and I saw perform at last years (2014) Chicago Jazz Festival.
The Paulinho Garcia Quintet:
- Paulinho Garcia (guitar and vocals)
- Heitor Garcia (percussion)
- Geraldo de Oliveira (percussion)
- Dedé Sampaio (drums)
- Greg Fishman (saxophone)
Vibraphonist Gary Burton:
- Gary Burton (vibraphone), Vadim Neselovskyi (piano)
- Jorge Roeder (bass)
- Henry Cole (drums)
- Julian Lage (guitar)
David Boykin Expanse:
- David Boykin (saxophonist on left)
- Josh Abrams (bass)
- James Baker (piano)
- Marcus Evans (drums)
- Dan Godston (trumpet)
- Nicole Mitchell (flute)
- Jayve Montgomery (saxophone)
- Shanta Nurullah
- Eliel Sherman Storey (saxophone)
- Alex Wing (guitar)
