All in Performance
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Earlier in the day I had the opportunity to see Big Bill Morganfield, who is Muddy Waters' son. Absolutely terrific. Solid band, talented showman, and great guitar player. He was sitting behind me tonight during Nellie Travis' set. Very nice guy.
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Each year, a group of elementary school students shows attendees of the Chicago Blues Festival what they have learned. Whether or not the next Muddy Waters, Lonnie Baker, or Guy Clark Jr. emerges from the program won't be known for at least a decade or two. In the meantime, the kids are having a rollicking good time. If nothing else, I suspect we will see many of these kinds in the audience in future years.
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Marshall Field and Company exists now only as a sign that Macy's hasn't removed out of fear of alienating the Chicago market and its fond remembrances of the once venerable Field and Company. Much the same can be said of Maxwell Street Market, which has been moved to a new location and is a shadow of its former self. Yet, Brian Doroba (guitar)
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I spent two hours earlier in the evening at the Chicago Cultural Center enjoying Sam Lay stories, listening to Chicago blues harpist Corky Siegel and Lay perform two numbers together, and watching director John Anderson's terrific new documentary Sam Lay in Bluesland. Those are the component parts of the evening, but so much more was going on.
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Surprise, Surprise! At about noon, I was within a block of Daley Plaza (the location of the Picasso statue) when I heard the sweet sounds of some Chicago Blues reverberating off the buildings, sounding just like it did when Muddy Waters plugged his guitar into an amp.
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A capacity crowd at the University of Chicago's Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts heard Vijay Iyer, one of Eicher's artists, perform last night with a sextet. At the end of the concert, one enthusiastic listener told trumpeter Graham Hayes that he heard Sketches of Spain in some parts of the music.
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Kevin Mahogany opened his four-night engagement at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase last night to an unjustly small audience that included four people from Iceland. I last saw Mahogany 23 years ago at the Denver Botanic Gardens on a rainy summer night. As I told Kevin after the second set, I should probably pay him for the blue rain slicker that I found on the ground that night. I have traveled the world with it.
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Woke up at 12:30PM today, worked on photographs, and then headed back to Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase for seconds. Dr. Lonnie Smith and Company were still in the house.
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I have always been a huge fan of Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack McDuff, and Jimmy McGriff, who I saw in a bar when I sixteen--the owner bought me a drink. Dr. Lonnie Smith pushes the boundaries established by those luminaries, getting a lot of varied and interesting sounds out of his Hammond B3 organ. Gotta love the spinning horn.
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I love seeing our jazz treasures. The years of performing and experimenting are often on display, as they were during Cole's set. Accompanied by a bass player, drummer, and guitarist, Cole lead a very subtle, but powerful quartet, playing a number of selections from the American Songbook, as well as a tune by Sonny Boy Williamson, which reflects the influence of the blues that pervades the entire effort.
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Jazz guitarist Kurt Rosewinkel brought his six-piece band to the Jazz Showcase this weekend for the premiere of his new album, Caipi. In a review of the Thursday night opening, Tribune reviewer Howard Reich was highly complimentary of Rosenwinkel, but he seemed skeptical about what he heard,
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It's a love hate thing. Joe Segal, the 90 year-old proprietor of Chicago's Jazz Showcase, loves Charlie Parker, which is why the photograph of Parker adorns the wall behind the stage. Joe has been in the jazz impresario business for 70+ years. Everybody who is anybody has been through that club. Joe is an institution in the world of jazz, receiving all sorts of accolades, including the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master honor.
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While waiting on the steps outside the Michigan Avenue entrance for Evelyn to finish her scone, I heard a terrific trumpeter who clearly knew his chops. I assumed he was a jazz cat, but when I went to put money in his bucket, he asked me if I would take his photograph. Happy to do it. So we tried a number of poses. Turns out he is a blues player with J.W. Williams & the Chi-Town Hustlers.
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2017 Grammy-nominated jazz pianist Fred Hersch brought his trio to the Logan Center last night. For me, the standout was drummer Eric McPherson, who was the master of the subtlety, as exemplified by his use of brushes and the gentle tap here and there.
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Carrington and company performed selections from her tribute to Duke Ellington's Money Jungle, now 50-plus years old. I was particularly impressed by saxophonist Mark Shin's guttural tone. The notes had an edge that was more out there than one might have expected.
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Friday night saw an exciting take on Latin jazz come to the Logan Center. Fourteen-time Grammy award winning Paquito D' Rivera brought his quintet to the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts for an evening of jazz that featured work from his 2014 album, Jazz Meets the Classics. On the bandstand were Diego Urcola (trumpet and valve trombone), Alex Brown (piano), Oscar Stagnaro (electric six-string bass), and Mark Walker (drums). Sitting in as a guest from Alejo Poveda on congas.
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Pick your poison, so to speak. I decided early on that I wanted the image depicted in the cover photograph, but that presents a problem. A photographer's worst nightmare is being relegated to a fixed position. I always say that when photographing in a club or concert hall. By picking this location, I did not have the opportunity to photograph the rally in Grant Park, the parade stepping off at Wrigley Field, or the chaos at the AMTRAK station. Only a media outlet like the Chicago Tribune has the number of photographers to cover all the bases, so to speak.
One of the highlights of this year's Hyde Park Jazz Festival was the opportunity to see and hear the great jazz trumpeter, Tom Harrell, together with TRIP, which also features saxophonist Mark Turner. A tight unit that plays gorgeous music. Still lots of humidty in the air, but the darkness and dark greenish-yellow hues portend Fall.
The Good News from the Chicago Jazz Festival: Legendary drummer, percussionist, and nice guy Avreeayl Ra was back in the saddle tonight, after having been jumped and then beaten by a group of thugs as he walked to the parking lot from Chicago's Green Mill Jazz Club a couple of weeks back. From my seats, he looked fully recovered, but my photographs reveal some purple bruising around his left eye. He was in excellent form and spirits.
