Sep 29

Sep 29 Hyde Park Jazz Festival (II)

Chicago, Festivals, Jazz, Musicians, Performance

Day 2 of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival always has an entirely different feel to it than Day 1. All of the events take place on the two stages erected on the University of Chicago’s Midway Plaisance. One is at Ellis Avenue and the other is at Woodlawn. People trickle in throughout the afternoon. The music tends to be less experimental, which means by 3:00 PM dancing usually breaks out in front of the West Stage. Today followed the well-established pattern , with one exception: Rather than several thousand people, the Midway was at best filled with several hundred.

The afternoon opened with vocalist Maggie Brown, a staple on the Chicago jazz scene. Juan Pastor’s Chinchano provided some serious jazz with a Latin jazz beat, Greg Ward and company offered some hard driving jazz, and Pharez Whitted closed out the Festival with some straight ahead jazz, with his trumpet featuring prominently in the set. For my money, the best act of the afternoon was Bill McFarland & the Chicago Horns. Members of the frontline horn section have played with many of the biggies, including Luther Allison, Mighty Joe Young, Aretha Franklin, Jerry Butler, Curtis Mayfield, Etta James, and Koko Taylor, among others. Chicago bassist Fenton Robinson was on bass, but the horns, particularly Bill McFarland on trombone, provided a propulsive beat that accentuated Robinson’s base.