Hyde Park Jazz Festival one for the books
By James Porter, contributing writer
Sep 25, 2023 Updated Sep 28, 2023
"Everywhere was a song and a celebration."
So sang Melanie Charles during her Saturday afternoon set at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival this past weekend. This lyric came from the song "Woodstock," written by Joni Mitchell ("she's my best friend … in my mind," quipped Charles). The tune was originally written about a historic rock festival of 1969, but with a few lyric substitutions, could be adapted to this festival. Although summer was ending, the autumnal aura still maintained an element of warmth and community across Hyde Park.
All-day Saturday, everything from free jazz improvisers to large ensembles took to stages on the Midway Plaisance and in various buildings across the surrounding University of Chicago. As the music wafted throughout the neighborhood, hundreds of attendees strolled tree-lined streets from one venue to the next, while hundreds more set up camp on the Midway.
At The Logan Center, Artifacts, featuring flutist Nicole Mitchell, cellist Tomeka Reid and drummer Mike Reed, were joined by Ensemble Dal Niente for a program that combined (very successfully) an angular string section, sawing away against jazz-funk rhythms anchored by Reid. Of special note was the marimba player, Kyle Flens, whose mallet work sounded like the right pinch of seasoning on a good meal. While the marimba may have seemed minimal by contrast, you would miss it if it were absent.