This year's Chicago Jazz Festival brings a cornucopia of talent to our fabulous city. This year, the variety of artists and styles of jazz promise something for everyone from fledgling fans to aficionados. There is music all over Millennium Park at three stages, The Von Freeman stage and the WDCB Jazz Lounge offer the best of local jazz veterans and burgeoning superstars. I took in the music at the Pritzker Pavilion on Friday. Chicago jazz star Bobbi Wilsyn served as host for this year's festivities and reminded the audience that jazz is the heartbeat of Chicago.
Tomeka Reid is a cellist who has expanded the boundaries of jazz with an improvisational style that brings in suspense and mystery while blending straight-ahead jazz. Reid is a composer recognized as a MacArthur Fellow in 2022. Her quartet comprises another MacArthur Fellow, Mary Halvorson on guitar, plus bassist Jason Roebke and drummer Tomas Fujiwara. Each musician brings a dimension of sound that defies category. Delicate pizzicato flows into bowing that shreds like a rock guitar. The quartet played from Reid's 2024 release 3+3 for the opening set. Their set was cerebral and yet playful with everybody on their A-game.
Saxophonist Billy Harper and a quintet of musicians who played classic jazz were next. Harper has played with titans of jazz such as Art Blakey, Gil Evans, and Max Roach. He brings spirituality to his compositions hearkening back to John Coltrane's finding the sacred in an earthy genre. Freddie Hendrix plays a trumpet that calls the Jazz angels to earth. Pianist Francesca Tanksley nimbly played as much rhythm as the drums. Bassist Dezron Douglas seemed to be in an ecstatic trance with every note he played. Drummer Aaron Scott reminded me of Blakey's virtuosic and relentless beat. Harper is an artist also in the vein of Sun Ra believing in a Black spiritual consciousness arising from his music.
Trumpeter Charlie Sepúlveda and the Turnaround brought the heat and sizzle of Puerto Rico to the stage. Sepúlveda and the Turnaround play Jazz with origins in hard bop and homage to the music he heard growing up like bomba and danza. The Turnaround consists of six amazing musicians. Pianist Emmanuel Rivera was jamming with that persistent melodic rhythm. Jean Luis Treboux blended the smoothest vibraphone I have heard in a while. Treboux is Swiss and Sepúlveda joked that they kidnapped and kept him in Puerto Rico. Treboux certainly has the sound and the moves. Gabriel Rodriguez put some heat into the bass with Francisco Alcalá tearing it up on the drums. Alcalá has played with another of my favorite bands- Snarky Puppy. Gadwin Vargas seemed in a trance on the congas making them speak a message of passion. Sepúlveda's wife Natalia Mercado brought a sultry vibe singing in a Fado style reminiscent of Omara Portuando and the Buena Vista Social Club.
Capping the night off was Catherine Russell. She calls herself a late bloomer as a solo artist, Russell is the daughter of Panamanian musician Luis Russell. She grew up around artists like Louis Armstrong with the influence of King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, and Billie Holiday. Russell's voice has a rich timbre, perfect for Blues and Jazz singing. Her repertoire was Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, Tiny Bradshaw, and obscure composers from the early days of Jazz. Russell's band has some Chicago talent. Pianist Ben Paterson brings the sound of the Hammond B3 to life with a gospel-tinged sound. Guitarist Joel Paterson (no relation) is a fixture at the Green Mill in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood. He brings a full jazz sound with a tinge of rockabilly and Hawaiian stirred in. Bassist Tai Ronen hails from Israel and drummer Domo Branch is from Portland, Oregon. Russell and her group remind me of all the hot nightclubs from my childhood. She sparkles on stage and the set is intimate despite thousands of people in the park. I was too young too young to see Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, or Dinah Washington in their prime but Catherine Russell brought them all to life with her ebullient stage presence and powerful voice.
The Chicago Jazz Festival continues through Sunday, September 1, at Millennium Park. It is free to get in and every seat is a good one. The vibe is mellow and the music is whatever temperature you are feeling, cool or hot. Hope to see you there!