Hyde Park Jazz Festival

This Saturday the third annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival presents 15 hours of performances spread across 13 south-side venues, including sets from many of Chicago’s finest jazz musicians. The festival begins at 11 AM with Ken Chaney’s Awakening at the DuSable Museum of African American History (740 E. 56th Place) and the U-High Jazz Band at the James W. Wagner Stage (1130 E. Midway). Notable acts include saxophonist Von Freeman (DuSable Museum, 2 PM), trumpeters Corey Wilkes and Maurice Brown (James W. Wagner Stage, 3 PM), reedist Ari Brown (Hyde Park Union Church, 3:30 PM), saxophonist Ernest Dawkins (Hyde Park Bank, 4:30 PM), pianist Willie Pickens (International House, 5:30 PM), guitarist Bobby Broom and Ed Wilkerson’s 8 Bold Souls (International House, 7 PM, with Broom outside in the garden), vocalist Dee Alexander and trumpeter Orbert Davis (James W. Wagner Stage, separate sets at 6 and 7:30 PM), and trumpeters Jon Faddis and Pharez Whitted (International House, 8:30 PM). Alexander also hosts a midnight jam at the International House that closes out the daylong jazz marathon. Most of the venues are within easy walking distance of one another, but the festival provides free trolley service during and after performances at Experimental Station, the Hyde Park Art Center, Hyde Park Bank, and Little Black Pearl, as well as a guarded bike parking area. Food and drink, including Goose Island beer and Robinson’s ribs, will be sold on the Midway Plaisance at 59th. All performances are free and all-ages, but a donation of $125 or more will get you a “Jazz Pass” good for preferred seating at some of the larger indoor halls. The festival is holding a kickoff celebration Friday night at Rockefeller Chapel (5850 S. Woodlawn) with a set by Grammy-winning vocalist Cassandra Wilson at 8 PM; tickets range from $20 to $100 (and the preceding reception and benefit at the Quadrangle Club, 1155 East 57th, costs $200). For more details, call 773-834-3534 or visit hydeparkjazzfestival.org.