{"id":57,"date":"2008-01-23T18:05:51","date_gmt":"2008-01-23T23:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/2008\/01\/windy_city_jazz_response\/"},"modified":"2011-04-28T16:35:05","modified_gmt":"2011-04-28T20:35:05","slug":"windy_city_jazz_response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2008\/01\/windy_city_jazz_response.html","title":{"rendered":"Windy city, jazz response"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chicagoans won’t be deterred — like other northerners, they shrug off January and find meaning by escaping their caves. At least, I hope so, heading into my hometown for the Jazz Institute of Chicago’s annual winter Jazz Fair<\/a> at the beautiful Cultural Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\nThe fair is free — free jazz! — and features not just me reading from my new book<\/a> and showing videos of Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor (at 8 p.m.) but genuine live music across the jazz and jazz-beyond-jazz spectrum. Starting with swing clarinetist Chuck Hedges<\/a> at 7 p.m. and my high school jam pal pianist Jim Baker<\/a> (check out his debut solo recording of 2006 More Questions Than Answers<\/i><\/a>) with extraordinary AACM flutist Nicole Mitchell<\/a> (she has a recent dvd\/cd release, Black Unstoppable<\/i><\/a> at 7:30.
\nAt 9 the fair delves into Chicago’s unique jazz-blues connection with harmonica player Billy Branch<\/a> and direly under-exposed singer Dee Alexander<\/a> leading what looks like a stellar quintet (with genre-crossing guitarist Henry Johnson plus AACM<\/a> bassist Yosef Ben Israel and drummer Leon Joyce, who’s unknown so far to me) and simultaneously at another Cultural Center venue Latin jazz by pianist Edwin Sanchez’s Project. From 9:30 to 11:45 Chicago’s jazz master tenor saxophonist Von Freeman<\/a>, mentor to several generations of midwestern players and at age 85 hugely deserving of National Endowment for the Arts recognition<\/a>) fronts a quintet and directs a jam session. Usually you’d have to go on Monday nights to the Enterprise Lounge (south 75th Street) for such a treat.
\nOn Saturday, from 11:30 am ’til 5 p.m., the Jazz Fair reconvenes with jazz cinema — The World Of John Coltrane<\/a> (in ’85 I conducted the interviews with Jimmy Heath, Tommy Flanagan, Rashied Ali and Wayne Shorter used in this film), a Polish tv document of Nicole Mitchell’s “Harambee Project,” “Tootie’s Last Suit” about a renown Mardi Gras Indian<\/a> chief, “Sippie” is all about late classic blues woman Sippie Wallace<\/a>, and rare jazz films by Bob Koester, proprieter of Delmark Records<\/a> and the Jazz Record Mart<\/a>, where as a teenager I filled my ears, eyes and mind on the roots of what I love today.
\nI’m not pushing this event for the hype of it. The Jazz Fair should serve as a model for other ad hoc music-lovers’ associations to energize their audiences in the doldrums of harsh seasons. Hearing, viewing, socializing and maybe expanding personal horizons is what the culturally curious enjoy. Low cost and variety are highlights that can attract young and new listeners, whatever genre is presented. The investment by ad hoc arts support organizations can be modest, and the returns huge. If you’re in Chicago, drop by. If you’re not, suffer envy.
\nhowardmandel.com<\/a>
\nSubscribe to Jazz Beyond Jazz by Email<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chicagoans won’t be deterred — like other northerners, they shrug off January and find meaning by escaping their caves. At least, I hope so, heading into my hometown for the Jazz Institute of Chicago’s annual winter Jazz Fair at the beautiful Cultural Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-57","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-V","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":311,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2010\/04\/central_brooklyn_grassroots_ja.html","url_meta":{"origin":57,"position":0},"title":"Central Brooklyn Jazz Festival goes to roots, future, justice","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"April 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"My column in City Arts\u00a0highlights the 40-event Central Brooklyn Jazz Festival, taking place throughout April \"from Flatbush up Fulton Avenue through the neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Ocean Hill to Bushwick . . . the area that gave birth to Max Roach and Randy Weston some 80\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":363,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/01\/jazz_conventions_conferences.html","url_meta":{"origin":57,"position":1},"title":"Jazz conventions, conferences, celebrations, memorial Jan 6 – 11","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"January 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The jazz world convenes in two U.S. cities this weekend, as high school and college bands + directors gather at the JEN Conference in New Orleans, jazz presenters focus themselves at the APAP convention in New York City and jazz journalists get together on topics vital to better and continued\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2008\/05\/comin_right_up_matt_miller_for.html","url_meta":{"origin":57,"position":2},"title":"Comin’ right up — Matt Miller foresees jazz beyond jazz","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"May 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Recommendations by an emerging music journalist\/tenor sax player for convention-shattering musical events in New York City over the next week (May 16 - 22) . . .\u00c2\u00a0 Links give you a video taste of what you might here -- support live music!Friday, May 16 Sunny Murray transcended timekeeping as drummer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":240,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2009\/08\/labor_day_jazz_twitter_propose.html","url_meta":{"origin":57,"position":3},"title":"You’ve heard live jazz ? 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