12th ANNUAL JAZZ CLUB TOUR
CHICAGO CULTURAL CENTER
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The Cultural Center (78 E. Washington; 312-744-6630) now has some of the most inventive programming anywhere in the midwest; piggybacking on the festival lineup, it will present three major artists in groupings considerably more intimate than you’ll find in Grant Park. Thursday, September 2, at 4 PM in Preston Bradley Hall, pianist Danilo Perez, who belongs on any shortlist of the decade’s jazz innovators, performs in duet with legendary soprano saxist Steve Lacy. Both men have made lifelong studies of Thelonious Monk; more than likely they’ll blend their radically different approaches on several of the late pianist’s compositions. After that, the festival proper kicks off here with a New Orleans-style parade along South Michigan Avenue to the Petrillo Music Shell, featuring the Algiers Brass Band (from New Orleans) and Mama Dig Down’s Brass Junction (from Madison, Wisconsin, the New Orleans of the North).
On Saturday, September 4, in a programming coup, the elusive trombonist Roswell Rudd makes a rare Chicago visit. Rudd–a blustery, vital link in the history of both his instrument and the 60s avant-garde–will work with the versatile trio heard on his heralded two-volume set The Unheard Herbie Nichols (CIMP), guitarist-percussionist Greg Millar and drummer-vibist John Bacon Jr. (One of Rudd’s spiritual descendants, trombonist Ray Anderson, plays the same night at Grant Park and plans to head over to the club; keep your fingers crossed for dueling glissandos.)
It took Joe Segal several years to realize that if you can’t fight Jazz Fest, you might as well ride its coattails. Eventually he stopped trying to compete for major headliners and turned his Jazz Showcase (59 W. Grand; 312-670-2473) into an after-hours joint, with jam sessions that allow festival stars to stretch out with locals and other out-of-towners. This year the host band is pianist Willie Pickens (see festival schedule), bassist Larry Gray, and drummer Robert Shy, who also warm up the venue during Wednesday’s Jazz Club Tour; at press time, confirmed sitters-in from the festival program included saxophone legends Johnny Griffin and Phil Woods, several sidemen from the Count Basie Orchestra, and bassist Rufus Reid. (Soprano saxist Steve Lacy has received his invitation, but he’s still a long shot). In addition, this year’s festival has more good keyboard men than it knows what to do with, and what with Danilo Perez, Roland Hanna, and the graceful ex-Chicagoan Norman Simmons all guaranteed to show and the possibility that Tommy Flanagan might drop by, Pickens may have an easier week than he’d expected. Because of the city’s fest curfew, listeners can hear the last official notes ring out and still get to the Showcase door during the first set–but Segal kicks off the jams around 10 and the place fills up fast, so actually getting a seat may require departing the park a little early.
The business of America is to sell, and the best way to do that is to bring people into the store–even if that means bringing the store to the people. The Tower Records booth at Jazz Fest lines up music, musicians, and authors to create a bustling little oasis within the expanse of food tents and beer gardens that line Jackson. On Saturday and Sunday, Septemner 4 and 5, from 1:30 to 4:30 PM, Southport Records vocalists will perform (Elijah Levi with bassist Tatsu Aoki on Saturday, Libby York with pianist Dennis Luxion on Sunday); meanwhile, festival patrons can chat with and collect autographs from Sam Rivers, probably Chick Corea and Marian McPartland, and possibly John Zorn after their respective mainstage sets (see festival schedule).
