Clarinetist Ben Goldberg and trumpeter Jeremy Pelt highlight this weekend’s Hyde Park Jazz Festival
September 22, 2017
The 11th annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival kicks off tomorrow with a typically packed schedule of diverse sounds, focusing on some of the city’s most important and creative forces while making room for a selective smattering of national and international attractions. In this week’s paper I highlighted a couple of duo performances by Nick Mazzarella & Tomeka Reid and Andrew Cyrille & Bill McHenry, but naturally there’s much more that’s worth your time.
I'm excited for the return of trumpeter Jaimie Branch’s quartet, playing its first gig in town since May; the world premiere of Bamako*Chicago Sound System, flutist Nicole Mitchell’s new project with the great Malian kora player Ballake Sissoko; as well as the premiere of a new commission from the superb reedist Geof Bradfield, “Yes, and . . . Music for Nine Improvisers,” featuring a fantastic lineup with saxophonists Greg Ward and New Yorker Anna Webber and trumpeters Marquis Hill and Russ Johnson. Of course, there’s more: a solo set for piano and pipe organ by the great Amina Claudine Myers, the Ari Brown Quartet with guest saxophonist Oliver Lake, and panel discussions about the Wall of Respect and pianist Thelonious Monk, both featuring the scholar Robin D.G. Kelley.