2022 Commission
In 2022, the Hyde Park Jazz Festival commissioned Chicago pianist and composer Miguel de la Cerna to create a new work. Miguel created a suite of music in tribute to his father, who grew up on the south side of Chicago. The suite, titled Soul Progression: Suite for My Father featured Greg Artry (drums), Ari Brown (tenor saxophone), Jonita Lattimore (vocals), Joshua Ramos (bass), Corey Wilkes (trumpet), and Miguel de la Cerna (piano and composition).
2021 Commission
In 2021, the Hyde Park Jazz Festival commissioned Chicago drummer, producer, beat scientist, and composer Makaya McCraven to create a 45-60 minute suite for sextet, including musicians Greg Ward (alto sax), Matt Gold (guitar), Junius Paul (bass), Marquis Hill (trumpet), and Brandee Younger (harp).
2020 Commissions
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the creatively reinvented formatting for our 2020 events, we were not able to commission new work for the 2020 Festival.
2019 Commissions
In 2019, the Hyde Park Jazz Festival commissioned work from two emerging Chicago composers, Angel Bat Dawid and Isaiah Collier—both of whom premiered ambitious, multidisciplinary performances in the Reva & David Logan Center for the Arts Performance Hall.
In her 12-part, orchestrated funeral mass service Requiem for Jazz, avant-garde composer, clarinetist, and singer Angel Bat Dawid explored and memorialized the death and ongoing life of jazz, and featured Chicago-based and Chicago-influenced musicians, dancers, and visual artists.
Requiem for Jazz included: Vincent Davis (percussion); Dr. Charles Joseph Smith (piano); Dr. Adam Zanolini (flute); Xristian Espinoza (tenor saxophone); Isaiah Collier (soprano saxophone); Jayden Berkman (alto saxophone); Sam Trump (trumpet); Julian Otis (tenor); Phillip Armstrong (baritone); Aquarius Ester and Viktor Le Givens (dance); Norman W. Long (electronics); Jonathan Woods (visuals); J’niya Blunt (violin); Jeremiah Hunt (bass); Tramaine Parker (soprano); Monique Golding (alto); Hannah Washington (clarinet).
The Story of 400 Years at The Logan Center for the Arts.
Photo by Jack Siegel.
Isaiah Collier premiered The Story of 400 Years, which sought to sonically illustrate the African Diaspora. The Story of 400 Years included: Isaiah Collier (sax); Brent Griffin, Jr. (alto saxophone); Angel Bat Dawid (clarinets); Norman Palm and Matthew Davis (trombones); Bobby Cooper and Randy Price (trumpets); Jeremiah Hunt (bass); Vincent Davis (drums); Frank Menzies (piano); Indya Gray (cello); J’Niya Blunt and Dajour Smith (violins); Celeste Coleman (viola); Kennedy Banks (choreographer); Sydney Shearer, Jayda Perry, DeSean Townsend, and Ahmad Hill (dancers).
2018 COMMISSIONS
Lenard Simpson at the Hyde Park Bank.
Photo by Marc Monaghan.
The 2018 Festival supported several emerging composers who were developing new work as part of the City of Chicago Year of Creative Youth. Specifically, the Festival commissioned work by Lenard Simpson, Thaddeus Tukes, and Alexis Lombre, and seeded Isaiah Collier's project, The Story of 400 Years, which premiered at the Festival the following year. The Festival also supported the development of a new arrangement for Mike Reed's The City Was Yellow.
2017 COMMISSION
For the 2017 Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Malian master kora player and composer Ballaké Sissoko co-led a special project with flutist and composer Nicole Mitchell. Joining the bandleaders was Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble and Malian musicians Fassery Diabaté and Fatim Kouyate. Included in the performance were world premiere compositions, commissioned by the Festival, by both Sissoko and Mitchell. The performance was preceded by workshops in three Chicago Public High Schools, in partnership with Ravinia Festival, and co-presented with the World Music Festival at the Reva & David Logan Center, with support from the MacArthur Foundation International Fund.
Bamako*Chicago Sound System included Jeff Parker (guitar), Mankwe Ndosi (voice), Joshua Abrams (bass), and Jovia Armstrong (percussion).
2016 COMMISSION
To celebrate its 10th Anniversary, the Hyde Park Jazz Festival partnered with the Reva & David Logan Center for the Arts to commission composer and alto saxophonist Miguel Zenon to compose a 60-minute full composition for Chicago's own Spektral Quartet. Entitled Yo Soy la Tradicion, the new work was inspired by traditional music from the rural areas of Puerto Rico.
Spektral Quartet included: Austin Wulliman (violin); Clara Lyon (violin); Doyle Armbrust (viola); and Russell Rolen (cello).
2015 COMMISSIONS
Ambrose Akinmusire "banyan"
At the 2015 Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Ambrose Akinmusire presented his commissioned composition, banyan, which builds on his interest in the role of the griot and mentor in social and jazz history. He developed a sixty-minute composition and companion video installation exploring storytelling and mentorship as oral and aural tradition in artist and community networks. To develop the composition and companion video, Akinmusire interviewed Ron Carter, Bertha Hope, Wayne Shorter, Charlie Persip, Archie Shepp, Bennie Maupin, and Henry Threadgill. For this project, he created a 12-person ensemble including Walter Smith, Marcus Strickland, Jacob Rodriguez, and Tim Green (saxophones); Ambrose Akinmusire, Jumaane Smith, and Jason Palmer (trumpets); Vincent Arvel Chandler and Josh Roseman (trombones); Harish Raghavan (rhythm section); Sam Harris (piano); Justin Brown (drums).
Mikel Patrick Avery "Parade"
Commissioned in collaboration with the Rebuild Foundation as part of the Hyde Park Jazz Fest's Story Share Project, Avery’s Parade incorporated influences ranging from Indonesian Gamelan to Brazilian Carnival to create a response to stories collected with residents in the neighborhood around the Dorchester Art+Housing Collaborative on the South Side of Chicago. A celebratory community gathering, Parade took place on and around the West Stage at Midway and involved 20 musicians, 6 dancers, and local students.
Tomeka Reid Ensemble "Tokens"
Commissioned in collaboration with the Rebuild Foundation as part of the Hyde Park Jazz Fest's Story Share Project, Reid’s string ensemble explored the stories shared by Dorchester community members. This work incorporated found objects collected from the neighborhood with music invoking memories of the location’s vibrant past and burgeoning future. The ensemble included: Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello); Mazz Swift (violin); Jason Hwang (viola); Peter Manau (guitar, violin); Silvia Bolognesi (bass); and Mikel Patrick Avery (drums).