Sep 1

Sep 1 JazzFest, Day 4

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

[Cover Image: The Jackson Family calling all jazz lovers, telling them to get their butts down to Millennium Park for the last day of the 2024 Chicago Jazz Festival]

An 11:00 AM performance on a Sunday morning is a tough ask, particularly when Bike the Drive makes moving around town a challenge. Yet, when raconteur and journalist Michael Jackson’s daughter, singer Alfie Jackson, is leading her quartet, sleep is not an option.

I had never seen Alfie perform live, but Michael regularly posted videos of Alfie and him singing in the car as Michael drove her to school each morning. Those posts came to an end earlier this year once Alfie started college at the New School in New York City. When Alfie took the stage today, I wondered whether she would be as raucous as in the videos?

With Alfie were guitarist Sam Roberson, bassist Daniel Perez, and drummer Chase Wilkins, all apparently friends from her high school days. Of course, dad was in the audience, second row center. Along the continuum established by the three women who performed on the main stage in the Pritzker Pavilion this week, Alfie’s vocal stylings were much closer to Mar Vilaseca’s ethereal vocals than the Blues-inflected singing served up by Catherine Russell and René Marie. Jackson deserves kudos for her willingness to find her own voice as opposed traveling the well-trod road—paying tribute to the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Dinah Washington.

To be clear, those who honor the legendary songstresses do the world a great service, particularly because women like Russell and Marie are not equivalent to Rich Little or Frank John Gorshin, Jr. While paying tribute, both women (and many others) infuse the classic songs and styles with their unique qualities, thereby building on rather than just reproducing the past. There’s nothing wrong with standard bearers.

I was disappointed that Michael did not bring his saxophone to the bandstand for at least one number, but that’s to his credit. Today was Alfie’s day. Not surprisingly, she indirectly acknowledged her debt to and love of her father by revealing family moment that will continue to be passed down from generation to generation. Michael had told Alfie about his own father’s death—specifically the last song that he listened to on the record player before he died. Alfie included it in her set, acknowledging the debt she owes to her father and grandfather. Afterwards, Michael told me he was crying like a baby as Alfie sang.

While my praise of Jackson is effusive, I don’t want to slight her bandmates. In keeping with other performances by teenage up and comers during the weekend, Alfie’s three bandmates did not hit a false note. Each enthusiastically played with skill and confidence, already exhibiting sterling musicianship. Robeson’s stylings were impeccable.

After Jackson finished her set, I skipped a couple of performances, heading to Remington’s for my first solid meal in three days. After skipping lunch each day, returned home to a dinner comprised of cheese and crackers, peanuts, and a bowl of coffee ice cream. The eggs, bacon, and cheesy potatoes were just what I craved and needed.

On my way to breakfast, I couldn’t resist the sounds coming from the the Von Freeman stage, so I stopped in, listening to one selection by alto saxophonist Mai Sugimoto. With her were saxophonist Fred Jackson Jr., bassist Ethan Philion, and drummer Isaiah Spencer, all excellent musicians from the Chicago area. With two saxes, the music was cutting and loud, but very good.

After brunch, I spent the afternoon ping ponging between the Von Freeman and WDCD stages, hearing Jason Palmer’s Quartet, Ernest Dawkins Quintet, Dee Alexander singing with the Alexander McLean Project, and Juli Wood and company’s take on Rahsaan Roland Kirk, one of my favorites. During Woods’s set, I didn’t see anyone stick three horns in her mouth at the same time, but I did see three women playing flute simultaneously.

Over the years, Alexander has worked in a variety of settings, ranging from Jimi Hendrix and James Brown to Dinah Washington and Billie Holiday. She has also performed as one of the three Ellas. The Alexander McClean project joins Dee with guitarist, composer, and arranger John McLean, who played both electric and acoustic guitar today. The two have been working together since at least 2022, so the collaboration is a successful one. I made a point of staying for three or four selections, with one being attributed to Dinah Washington.

As is the case each day, the Pritzker Pavilion beckoned. Today’s opening act was Clif Wallace’s Big Band. Big bands are not my thing, but I was pleasantly surprised. During the performance, I received a text from a friend who was on the Great Lawn, asking me what I thought. He signaled his approval with thumbs-up emojis. I agreed. The band had a clean and simple sound that was uniquely its own. There were no obvious references to Ellington, Basie , or the swing bands popular in the Forties and Fifties. Undoubtedly, those influences shaped the band’s sound, but Wallace and company were not going for historic recreations.

Following Wallace, trumpeter Eddie Jefferson, took the stage, joined by pianist George Cables, alto saxophonist Donald Harrison, bassist Gerald Cannon and drummer Mike Clark. Both Jefferson and Clark are alums from Herbie Hancock’s early Seventies bands. Cables has worked with Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, and Joe Henderson, among other luminaries, but for me, his recordings for the Steeplechase label demonstrate why he is one of the great jazz pianists of all time.

Anyone who was unfamiliar with these musicians, as improbable as might be, knew exactly what was about to happen as the group made its way onto the stage. All were nattily attired, signaling that the set would be no-nonsense, straight-ahead jazz that ‘cooked,’ which is exactly was what the group delivered. Although the quintet carried Eddie Henderson’s name, he, like Billy Harper two days earlier, exhibited a generosity of spirit, often standing to the side as the others played. A superb set.

Pianist Orrin Evans followed Henderson and friends, with saxophonist Caleb Wheeler Curtis, bassist Robert Hurst, and drummer Mark Whitfield II joining the fun. Evans’ set was similar to Jefferson’s. Not surprisingly. given his association with the Bad Plus, Evans and company were edgier, but the music was very accessible.

The Grammy-award winning Spanish Harlem Orchestra closed out the festival with their highly energetic and danceable take on Latin jazz. At this point, another photographer said to me, “I’ve never seen you look this exhausted before.” A late July bout with Covid, a trip in New York City, and the DNC the week before had finally caught up with me.

In all honesty, the Spanish Harlem Orchestra was not my thing, so after two numbers, I called it a festival. Because I don’t like something doesn’t mean it isn’t great. From what I heard, the orchestra was tight and very well-received by the audience. I made a point of exiting using the middle rather than side aisles because I wanted to see whether people were dancing. For the first time this weekend, lots of people were swinging arm-in-arm on the cement walkway separating the Pritzker Pavilion’s seating area from the lawn. The Spanish Harlem Orchestra was doing just what the programmers must have expected when the orchestra was slotted into the closing position.

Overall, the 2024 Chicago Jazz Festival offered a wide-ranging mix of excellent music, while showcasing lots of new talent.

[Click on an Image to Enlarge It. The Images Are Not Necessarily in Exact Chronological Order]

[Tragedy Strikes: For the first time in my photographic career, I had a corrupted SD card, meaning that I lost most of the images I made of the Clif Wallace Big Band and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. Fortunately, my other camera preserved most of the Eddie Jefferson Quintet and Orrin Evans Quartet images]