Jazz and Blues Lounge

Jazz in Historic Hyde Park Illinois

by balaspa on July 9th, 2008

I love it when people discover this website and then send me things. I have written about how much that means to me here before. It means that people think that this website is important and can help them and I love that.

On the south side of the city of Chicago is a very old and very historic neighborhood known as Hyde Park. It has always been an interesting and historic place. It has always been diverse and culturally mixed. They also have a rich history and they also have the Hyde Park Jazz Festival.

I received a full press release from the fine folks at Audience Logic, which is an organization doing all it can to help promote jazz music in and around Chicago and that is a cause I can get behind. They agreed to keep me in the loop about more stuff they are doing, so I look forward to posting that here soon. Here is what they sent me via their release:

“SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2008
Noon - 2 AM

The 2nd Annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival on Saturday, September 27, 2008, will bring together world-class headliners and local emerging artists for 14 hours of FREE, non-stop jazz for the serious and casual listener, alike. The Festival will highlight performances by renowned jazz musicians, while celebrating the music and culture of Chicago’s Hyde Park. Ramsey Lewis is serving as this year’s Honorary Festival Chair and WNUA 95.5 as its Media Sponsor.

Festival shuttles will continually loop, transporting attendees, free of charge, to a variety of creative and unexpected performance venues, including the DuSable Museum of African American History, Oriental Institute, Quadrangle Club, Smart Museum, Frank Lloyd Wright Robie House, Hyde Park Art Center, Checkerboard Lounge, Rockefeller Chapel, Little Black Pearl, Experimental Station, International House and the main stage at the Midway Plaisance.

New to this year’s Festival is a relationship with the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, encouraging attendees to ride their bikes. From noon to 10pm, cyclists can leave their bikes at a designated area, secured by a bike valet, that is located immediately on the Festival shuttle route.

The Festival headliners are world-class, award winning, respected authorities on jazz and its culture. Performers include premier pianist/composer and MacArthur “genius” Award recipient, Reginald R. Robinson, flutist/composer Nicole Mitchell, Delmark recording saxophonist Ari Brown, jazz violinist Zach Brock, vocalist/composer/ arranger Grazyna Auguscik, saxophonist & owner of famed Velvet Lounge Fred Anderson, silver-screen trumpeter Orbert Davis; jazz vocalist Dee Alexander; Grammy-nominated trumpeter Ron Haynes, saxophone masters Chicago Sax in the City; Brazilian-style jazz duo Two For Brazil; jazz vocalist Maggie Brown; pianist/arranger Willie Pickens; trumpeter Corey Wilkes, guitarist Henry Johnson, Latin pianist Edwin Sanchez, and many, many others.

The Annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival’s mission is to unite the community through appreciation of Hyde Park’s history and a universal appreciation of jazz and its cultural importance. The Festival is being produced by the Hyde Park Cultural Alliance, the University of Chicago, the Hyde Park Jazz Society, and Music Producer Carolyn Albritton.”

Put it on your calendar folks! I know I’m going to try and be there.

POSTED IN: Bands, Chicago, Festivals, jazz