Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Afterfest Shows
friday4
Young Jazz Lions Stage
Noon The Jazz Improv Collective
1 PM Morgan Park Academy Jazz Ensemble
2 PM Saint Charles High School Jazz Ensemble
3 PM Columbia College Jazz Ensemble
Jazz on Jackson
Noon Ernie Adams Trio with special guest Richie Cole Local drummer Ernie Adams has had his highest-profile gigs in the realms of fusion and commercial jazz—he’s toured and recorded with Al DiMeola and Ramsey Lewis—but he’s also well-versed in bop. Today he’ll play in a trio with Henry Johnson on guitar and Stewart Miller on bass, joined by hard-charging alto saxophonist Richie Cole. —PM
1:10 PM Fareed Haque & the Flat Earth Ensemble On Flat Planet (Owl Studios), the debut CD by this genre-bending band, Chicago guitarist Fareed Haque brings proggy complexity to a mix of funk, Indian music, and jazz. The Flat Earth Ensemble’s great fusion motor combines trap kit and tabla, recalling Joe Harriott and John Mayer’s classic 60s Indo-jazz experiments, but the group’s sound is thoroughly contemporary. Haque’s always been a terrific player, and he certainly gets to strut his syncretic stuff here. —JC
3:30 PM Esperanza Spalding Esperanza Spalding has been turning a lot of heads lately: she shows off her skills as a bassist on Joe Lovano’s fine Folk Art (Blue Note), which came out this spring, and in May she performed at the White House. Her own Esperanza (Heads Up) doesn’t do her justice, though. The music connects light jazz and R & B, putting the emphasis on her pleasant voice and mixing in Afro-Caribbean and Brazilian rhythms, but it doesn’t dig very deep—Spalding’s own songs pale next to her Spanish-language take on “Body & Soul” and her cover of Milton Nascimento’s “Ponta de Areia.” I’ll be excited to hear an album where she uses the full spectrum of her talents, but Esperanza isn’t it. For this set she’s joined by pianist Leo Genovese, drummer Otis Brown III, and guitarist Richard Vogt. —PM
Jazz & Heritage Stage
12:30 PM Dudley Owens Quintet Local saxophonist Dudley Owens studied under brilliant alto man Bunky Green at the University of North Florida, but another great alto saxist seems to have exerted a greater influence on him: Julian “Cannonball” Adderley. Owens has a thing for the sweetly soulful, gospel-tinged sound Adderley made famous—one of the precursors of soul jazz—and even when he tackles something miles away, like John Coltrane’s searching ballad “Naima,” his tone and phrasing remain warm, tender, and accessible. He leads a quintet with excellent trumpeter David Young, bassist Brandon Meeks, pianist Keith Javors, and drummer Mark Lomax. —PM
2 PM Diane Delin Quartet On disc, violinist and Evanston native Diane Delin has soloed in front of an armada of strings and played fiery small-group Latin jazz, but even in relatively combustible settings she never sounds like she’s breaking a sweat. For better or worse, you can tap your toe to every bar of her music—there aren’t any surprises to throw you off. —BM
3:30 PM Bob Seeley & Bob Baldori The piano duo of Bob Seeley and Bob Baldori devote all four of their hands to boogie-woogie, the rolling, bluesy style popularized in the 30s and 40s by talents like Pete Johnson, Meade Lux Lewis, and Albert Ammons. Seeley was friends with Lewis from the late 40s till his death in 1964, a relationship that helped him develop his strong rhythmic drive; Baldori first made his mark in the late 60s with Detroit band the Woolies, who scored a minor hit with “Who Do You Love,” and spent many years as Chuck Berry’s pianist. There’s not much to differentiate this stuff from music made 70 years ago, but it’s too vibrant to sound like a museum exhibit. —PM
Petrillo Music Shell
7:10 PM Madeleine Peyroux On her latest album, Bare Bones (Rounder), singer Madeleine Peyroux is still delivering smoky, jazz-kissed cabaret folk, steeped in the romantic atmosphere of Left Bank cafes—not a shocking sound coming from an American expat who spent most of her 20s busking in Paris. What’s different about the new disc is that Peyroux had a hand in writing every tune. But between her occasionally ridiculous lyrics—”Homeless Happiness,” an appreciation of the simple life on the streets, has to be heard to be believed—and her generally hook-free melodies, I think she’d be better off sticking to interpretations of other people’s songs. Her fine band includes keyboardist Gary Versace, bassist Johannes Weidenmueller, guitarist Pat Bergeson, and drummer Darren Beckett. Peyroux also plays some guitar. —PM
Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Afterfest Shows
Did you know? The Reader is nonprofit. The Reader is member supported. You can help keep the Reader free for everyone—and get exclusive rewards—when you become a member. The Reader Revolution membership program is a sustainable way for you to support local, independent media. It’s also the only way the Reader will be able to survive for the long-haul.