Aug 31

Aug 31 Chicago Jazzfest--Day 1

Chicago, Chicago Tourism, Festivals, Jazz, Musicians, Performance, Things to Do in Chicago

Bookends: The 2023 Chicago Jazz Festival kicked-off its four-day run today with something for everyone: traditional jazz, free jazz, hard bop, bebop, straight-ahead jazz, improvised jazz, jazz from the American Songbook, soulful jazz, Blues-influenced jazz, and just about any other genre that comes to mind. The programmers book-ended all this music with the old and the new, but in reverse.

The festival opened with the new—five high school students (one musician may have been older, but I am not sure) under the tutelage of Chicago saxophonist Ernest Dawkins. Operating under the moniker Live the Spirit, these prodigies are the future of jazz. They include Galen Morris (Bass), Oscar Evely (Drums), Miles Richey (Piano), Nathanial Harrigan (Trumpet), and Jamal Damien (Trumpet). Yes, two trumpets. They were joined on piano and saxophone by South African jazz musician Mark Fransman, along with their leader, Dawkins.

The youngsters were not just students who are still prone to the occasional mistake or miscue. They sounded like seasoned veterans from the Blue Note label circa 1961, but the reference to Blue Note is a bit misleading. They weren’t on stage to play tunes from classic albums. Most of the selections were composed by these kids.

At 17, Evely was the group’s veteran, having taken the stage at the 2022 festival with an earlier incarnation of the group featuring saxophonist Leo Milano, who is now a freshman in college in California. And veteran, Evely is. Last year, his out-of-control hair was dirty blonde. This year, its much darker, with a hint of grey. After the set, I told him, “You’ll be collecting Social Security next year.” He smiled, and said he would like that. All joking aside, he was excellent last year, but even better this year. More confidence; more nuance.

Dawkins may love that Blue Note sound, but he still wants these kids to learn about South Side blues, so two-thirds into the set, he traded his sax for the vocalist’s mike, singing “I am going to move my baby to the other side of town. Chicago ain’t nothing but a Blues town.” He suggested that there were some ‘X’ rated lyrics to the song, but said he would refrain from going there, probably because of the ‘innocents’ surrounding him. ‘Innocents’ should be in quotes; nobody plays like these young masters did unless they’ve stepped out a bit.

Put simply, the Jazz Festival should give the next incarnation of this band a slot on the main stage in 2024.

**Twenty-Four-Year Old Galen Morris Adding Botton to Live the Spirit**

**Nathaniel Harrigan Using His Fingers**

**South African Mark Fransman Listens in the Wings to Live the Spirit**

**Veteran Ernest Dawkins Trades His Sax for Some Sly Blues Vocalization**

**South African Saxophonist Mark Fransman Joined Live the Spirit During Their Set**

**Oscar Evely Laying Down the Beat for the Master**

The other bookend represented the old—the incomparable Ron Carter, who is 86 years old, but could pass for 50. At this point, who knows how many albums he has appeared on—he apparently holds the Guinness Book of Records title for most appearances on albums.

Over a career spanning 65 years has played with such other luminaries as Cannonball Adderly, Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard, Thelonious Monk, Sam Rivers, Wayne Shorter, Randy Weston, to name a few. Let’s not forget that he was a mainstay during the Sixties in the Miles Davis Quintet. But Carter’s reach extends beyond jazz. He has dipped his toe into the pop and hip-hop pools, playing with Roberta Flack, Bill Joel, and a Tribe Called Quest.

His album, Uptown Conversation (1969) was one of the first jazz albums I ever purchased. Shortly after that discovery, I picked up his 1972 classic with guitarist Jim Hall, Alone Together. I have measured much against those two albums throughout the years.

Tonight, Carter was working with drummer Payton Crossley, tenor saxophonist Jimmy Greene, and pianist Donald Vega. Together they work under the name Foursight.

In one sense, the set was somewhat homogenized, but that is not a criticism. Playing at a leisurely pace, the ensemble kept the decibel level low. For the first hour, Carter announced no song titles, and included no breaks between selections. Somewhere in the midst of the beauty, Carter went totally mainstream in terms of song selection, improvising his way through the classic You Are My Sunshine. He also tossed in some Bach along the way.

With about 15 minutes remaining in the set, Carter took a break to thank the audience. He pointed out that each night the group performs the best that they have ever played, so tonight we were hearing this band at its best.

Then he and Donald Vega used My Funny Valentine as a vehicle for a duet between piano and bass. At times, I heard bits of the late Chick Corea’s tonality as the piano chords resonated above the bass. Eventually, the remaining two members of the band joined in. I couldn’t name the night’s last number, but somebody told me it was a Monk composition.

Let’s turn to Steven Spielberg’s most recent, and autobiographical, film, the Fabelmans. For me, that film is about the distinction between the reality we see during out waking hours, and the one that photographers and filmmakers see when they look through the camera’s viewfinder. Something changes with the shift. A clarity is achieved. As I focused on Carter’s fingers moving up and down his bass, I wasn’t just watching a musician play his chosen instrument. As the recorded images momentarily flashed in the viewfinder, I was receiving a lesson in how to play the bass. Oh, that’s how they make that sliding sound. Ah, the index finger moves back across the other side of the neck to get the accent that blends with the other two fingers holding tightly down on two strings at once. Even Harry Potter couldn’t match the magic spells those ten fingers were casting.

When the band took its bow, there was no surprise. The applause was thunderous.

[Click on an Image to Enlarge It]

**Jimmy Greene Adding Some Lyricism Above Ron Carter's Bass Lines**

**Pressing Down Hard with His Ring Finger**

**Payton Crossley Opting for Brushes Rather Than Sticks**

**Ron Carter Exhibiting a Strong Preference for Keeping Eyes Shut While Playing**

But I don’t want to shortchange the books in the middle of the shelf. Before Ron Carter, saxophonist Chico Freeman paid tribute to his father, Von Freeman, joined by Chico’s uncle George, who at 96, sounded great on Brother George, a composition written by Von honoring George. George’s protege, Mike Allemana, took over the guitar position after the first number. The biggest surprise of the night was bassist Avery Sharpe, whom I first saw almost two decades ago backing pianist McCoy Tyner at a now-defunct Chicago jazz club .

By and large, Freeman’s set was up-tempo, but singer Margaret Murphy-Webb slowed things down a bit with a rendition of Bye-Bye Blackbird, followed by another number that Chico and his father recorded together in New York, entitled My Angel Eyes. Notably, Chico took a moment at the end of that song to pay tribute to the bassist Harrison Bankhead, who died earlier this year and who played bass on the recording.

The group also did a lovely rendition of Marvin Gaye’s Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology Song). Throughout the set, we received a double treat, with Thaddeus Tukes playing both the vibes and the piano. Tukes is no longer the young phenom that he was several years back; he is now just a great musician.

**Marna Love Singing the National Anthem**

**Neil Tesser Interviews Chico Freeman, Who Revealed That He Studied Mathematics at Northwestern**

**Chico Freeman Listens as Yoron Israel Plays**

**96-Year Old George Freeman Playing His Powder-Blue Guitar**

**Adding Vocals to the Mix, Margaret Murphy-Webb Joining Chico Freeman**

**Mike Allemena Adding Some Color to Chico's Mix**

**Thaddeus Tukes Putting Bringing His Mallets Down Hard**

**Blowin’ (Chico Freeman on the Tenor Saxophone)**

Let’s return to the Chicago Cultural Center for a recap of the day’s earlier performances. Following the performance by Ernest Dawkins and Company, Francis Wong, who has been developing various configurations of what he calls Asian Improv, took the stage in the Claudia Cassidy Theater with Kioto Aoki (Taiko Drummer), Tatsu Aoki (Bass and a traditional Japanese string instrument), Mwata Bowden (Baritone Saxophone, Clarinet, and Didgeridoo), and Edward Wilkerson Jr. (Tenor Saxophone) took the spotlight.

At one point, Francis Wong introduced a selection entitled Fire Next Time, which is reference to the Biblical passage where God tells Noah, “Next time it will be fire rather than water.” One might have thought today was the Next Time based on the sounds emanating from the stage. The atmosphere was highly combustible as Bowden, Wilkerson, and Wong all played their saxophones. But that was not true for the entire set. At other times, each saxophone meandered above a foundation built on rhythmic spaces. The saxophonists occasionally ended a piece with soft effects, which was also the case when Bowden played his didgeridoo; sounds somewhat like blowing across a bottle’s opening.

**Mwata Bowden on Bass Saxophone Playing With Asian Improv**

**Tatsu Aoki in a Meditative State While Wong and Bowden Improvise**

Saxophonist Fred Jackson, Jr. was up next. Playing with him under the banner Erudition Project were Isaiah Collier, who is already a monster player, his brother Micah Collier on bass, and Vincent Davis on drums. According to the program, Jackson was channeling “Ornette Coleman’s history-making quartet with Dewey Redman as a touchstone.”

This was Free Jazz at its best. Sometimes the wild honking and sheets of notes make Free Jazz inaccessible to many listeners, including myself. Today, that was not the case. There were sheets of notes, but each one was discrete and pleasant sounding. Discernible lines and themes ran throughout the attacks, making the set a highly enjoyable one.

Collier is another young man who instantly was dubbed a phenom, but he is now a bit longer in the tooth. There is little doubt that he will leave a huge mark on jazz, one which has already been noted internationally. The question is whether he will now start doubling up his rings; he is running out of fingers.

**Isaiah Collier Ripping It Up with Fred Jackson Jr's Erudition Project**

**Vincent Davis Providing Serenity in a Storm**

**Bassist Micah Collier Exploring Ornette Coleman**

**Fred Jackson Jr. Conversing After the Set**

Following a 30-minuted break, the Jazzfest programmers once again tried to answer a vexing question, as they do each year, in a program entitled What Is This Thing Called Jazz? Roosevelt Griffin, who last year was named John LaPorta Jazz Educator of the Year, offered up this year’s answer, using several musicians and a sequined pillow to illustrate his main point. I cannot help but note that Taylor Swift’s sequin stylings are everywhere this year. Had Roosevelt wanted to even more trendier, he would have opted for a pink, rather than blue pillow. Barbie pink.

Essentially, Griffin made the same point about the pillow that Ron Carter had made about his set, telling us a story about the artist who spent months fashioning the pillow. (Later he admitted the story was a canard; the pillow was store bought.) According to Griffin, his hypothetical artist put all of her life’s experiences into the design and her effort. Because that experience is ever changing, she could never make the same pillow again because she would have a few more lived experiences, which would be incorporated into the her next creation. To Roosevelt, changing experience is that thing called jazz. I suspect there will be a different answer next year. Maybe Roosevelt will return, to answer another related question: Can A.I. create jazz?

**Ready to Answer the Question: ‘What Is This Thing Called Jazz?’**

**Pianist Miguel de la Cerna Kicks Off ‘What Is This Thing Called Jazz?’**

**Using an Alto Sax To Answer the Question, ‘What Is This Thing Called Jazz?’**

**Ethan Philion Thinking About This Thing Called Jazz**

**John LaPorta Offers His Answer to the Pressing Question, ‘What Is This Thing Called Jazz’**

**Answering the Question, 'What Is This Thing Called Jazz?'**

So far I focused on the performances in the Claudia Cassidy Theater. On the other side of the building there were other performances. I did not spend nearly as much time in the Preston Bradley Hall because the lighting was not photographer friendly. Too much reliance on the Tiffany skylight, which meant that after 2 PM the room fell dark as neighboring buildings began to cast their shadows—it is almost September so the afternoon summer light is beginning to wane.

Nevertheless, the four sets of music were excellent. As has become particularly fashionable this year, one group led by Zach Markstet, took on a classic album; today being Horace Silver’s 1966 album entitled The Jody Grind. Not surprisingly, the effort sounded like an album that Blue Note would have released in 1966, particularly with the horn section comprising Constantine Alexander (Trumpet), Andy Baker (Trombone), and Randy McGrath (Tenor Saxophone).

I particularly enjoyed Natalie Scharf’s performance that is best described as Traditional Jazz, taking on the likes of Fats Waller, Willie “The Lion” Smith, and Dick Wellstood (a favorite of mine). Paul Asaro, who I associate with the Fat Babies, took on a dual role as pianist and vocalist. Lots of fun.

Finally, I caught part of singer Bobbi Wilsyn’s set, who is a big fan of Lena Horne, which was readily apparent. Much to my pleasure, Marlene Rosenberg did the honors on bass. She is a busy lady these days.

To summarize, the weather was great today, and the music was even better. And this was just the start. Three more days to come.