Review: Hyde Park Jazz Fest ranged from reverential to riotous in its stuffed 17th year
By Hannah Edgar
Sep 25, 2023 at 12:25 pm
Had it not been the first day of the 17th annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Sept. 23 still would have been a big day for jazz fans.
During his set with poet Nikki Giovanni, tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson rattled off some of the major musical names born that day, to hearty applause by a packed audience in Hyde Park Union Church. Ray Charles. Frank Foster. Les McCann. “Bruce Springsteen, too… (the applause shriveled) ... and John Coltrane.” The crowd exploded.
Welcome to the Hyde Park Jazz Fest, where Bird, Billie and Blakey inspire more ardor than the Boss. The festival punches in the same weight class as the Chicago Jazz Fest when it comes to megastar billings but arguably covers a wider spread in half the time. Saturday alone included two NEA Jazz Masters in veteran drummer Louis Hayes and pianist Kenny Barron; a dealer’s-choice spread of free jazz talent; three acts that toed into classical or third stream; the screening of a documentary about Fred Anderson’s Velvet Lounge; and a DJ set to close out the outdoor stages on the Midway Plaisance.
Still, that’s just a sampling. Because humans have not, to date, mastered time travel, any view of this full-to-bursting festival is a partial one. But even of the sets I heard, Coltrane’s “Naima” became a birthday refrain, relayed in a moderately swinging version by Hayes and his quintet (including some of the players and the same instrumentation off his recent album, “Exactly Right!”) and pealed on carillon on Sunday afternoon.