Chicago Jazz Festival
Encyclopedia
The Chicago Jazz Festival is a popular and well-known four day free celebration of jazz at Petrillo Music Shell
in Grant Park
in downtown Chicago. It is run by the Jazz Institute of Chicago during Labor Day
weekend, integrating both world-famous and local artists. A wide variety of jazz
music is played.
Before 1978, three different annual jazz festivals sponsored all were scheduled for August in Grant Park. Because of this, the Mayor's Office of Special Events decided to help join the three different festivals together into the Chicago Blues Festival with a week of free jazz performances. The newly created festival was famous for performances dedicated to Duke Ellington
, John Coltrane
, as well as many other performances by the Jazz Institute of Chicago
. Famous performers include Miles Davis
, Benny Carter
, Ella Fitzgerald
, Anthony Braxton
, Betty Carter
, Lionel Hampton
, Chico O'Farrill
's big band, Jimmy Dawkins
, Von Freeman
, Johnny Frigo
, Slide Hampton
, Roy Haynes
, and many others.
Complementary sets have often been scheduled simultaneously, such as at the DuSable Museum
. Each year, many prominent Chicago musicians host late-night jam sessions beginning after the concerts are over and running late into the night, including David Boykin, Fred Anderson
, Dana Hall
, Karl E. H. Seigfried
, and Keefe Jackson. The festival is part of a summer-long series of concerts and festivals, including Taste of Chicago
and the Chicago Blues Festival
.
Petrillo Music Shell
James C. Petrillo Music Shell or simply Petrillo Music Shell or Petrillo Bandshell as it is more commonly known, is an outdoor amphitheater/bandstand in Grant Park in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States...
in Grant Park
Grant Park (Chicago)
Grant Park, with between the downtown Chicago Loop and Lake Michigan, offers many different attractions in its large open space. The park is generally flat. It is also crossed by large boulevards and even a bed of sunken railroad tracks...
in downtown Chicago. It is run by the Jazz Institute of Chicago during Labor Day
Labor Day
Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.-History:...
weekend, integrating both world-famous and local artists. A wide variety of jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
music is played.
Before 1978, three different annual jazz festivals sponsored all were scheduled for August in Grant Park. Because of this, the Mayor's Office of Special Events decided to help join the three different festivals together into the Chicago Blues Festival with a week of free jazz performances. The newly created festival was famous for performances dedicated to Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
, John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
, as well as many other performances by the Jazz Institute of Chicago
Jazz Institute of Chicago
The Jazz Institute of Chicago was founded in 1969 by a small band of jazz fans, writers, club owners and musicians who came together to preserve the historical roots of the Chicago's music and to ensure that opportunities for the music to be heard would not be lost in a time when rock was subsuming...
. Famous performers include Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, Benny Carter
Benny Carter
Bennett Lester Carter was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and was recognized as such by other jazz musicians who called him King...
, Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
, Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s...
, Betty Carter
Betty Carter
Betty Carter was an American jazz singer renowned for her improvisational technique and idiosyncratic vocal style...
, Lionel Hampton
Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...
, Chico O'Farrill
Chico O'Farrill
Arturo "Chico" O'Farrill was a composer-arranger best known for his work in the Latin idiom, although he also composed straight-ahead jazz pieces and even symphonic works....
's big band, Jimmy Dawkins
Jimmy Dawkins
James Henry "Jimmy" Dawkins is an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist and singer. He is generally considered a part of the "West Side Sound" of Chicago blues.-Career:...
, Von Freeman
Von Freeman
Earle Lavon Freeman Sr. is an American hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist. He is the father of jazz saxophonist Chico Freeman.-Biography:...
, Johnny Frigo
Johnny Frigo
Johnny Frigo was an American jazz violinist and bassist.His son, Derek John Frigo, was the lead guitarist for the rock band Enuff Z'nuff. Derek Frigo died of a drug overdose on May 28, 2004....
, Slide Hampton
Slide Hampton
Locksley Wellington "Slide" Hampton is an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger.He was a 1998 Grammy Award winner for "Best Jazz Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist", as arranger for "Cotton Tail" performed by Dee Dee Bridgewater...
, Roy Haynes
Roy Haynes
Roy Owen Haynes is an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Haynes is among the most recorded drummers in jazz, and in a career lasting more than 60 years has played in a wide range of styles ranging from swing and bebop to jazz fusion and avant-garde jazz...
, and many others.
DuSable Museum
The DuSable Museum of African American History is the first and oldest museum dedicated to the study and conservation of African American history, culture, and art. It was founded in 1961 by Dr. Margaret Taylor-Burroughs , her husband Charles Burroughs, Gerard Lew, and others. Dr...
. Each year, many prominent Chicago musicians host late-night jam sessions beginning after the concerts are over and running late into the night, including David Boykin, Fred Anderson
Fred Anderson
Fred Anderson may refer to:*Fred Anderson , former National Football League defensive lineman*Fred Anderson , Major League Baseball player...
, Dana Hall
Dana Hall
Dana Eric Hall , is a former professional American football player who was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the 1st round of the 1992 NFL Draft. A 6'2", 206-lb...
, Karl E. H. Seigfried
Karl E. H. Seigfried
Karl E. H. Seigfried is a German-American jazz, rock, and classical bassist, guitarist, composer, bandleader, writer and educator based in Chicago....
, and Keefe Jackson. The festival is part of a summer-long series of concerts and festivals, including Taste of Chicago
Taste of Chicago
The Taste of Chicago is the world's largest food festival, held annually for ten days in Grant Park, in Chicago starting the Friday before the 4th of July and ending the Sunday after . The event is the largest festival in Chicago...
and the Chicago Blues Festival
Chicago Blues Festival
The Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event held in June that features three days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming. It is hosted by the City of Chicago Mayor's Office of Special Events, and always occurs in early June...
.