Hyde Park Jazz Festival

SAVE THE DATE: The 2012 Hyde Park Jazz Festival is coming up Saturday and Sunday, September 29 and 30.  Last year’s Hyde Park Jazz Festival celebrated 2 days/20 hours of jazz on September 24 and 25, 2011.  The Jazz Festival featured over 150 of Chicago’s greatest jazz musicians.  On Saturday the music was  heard throughout the historic Hyde Park neighborhood on 13 creative and unexpected, indoor and outdoor arts and culture venues.  Sunday all performances were on the James W. Wagner Main Stage on the Midway Plaisance South between Woodlawn and Ellis.

WHAT WAS NEW at the 2011 Jazz Festival …

1. Main Stage on the move – to the street in the Midway Plaisance South for a larger stage, better sound, and more seating (bring lawn chairs)
2. Expanded festival artisan and merchant vendors
3. More food and beverages on the Midway
4. Family Tent with special FREE programming and activities for the young jazz lovers near the main stage on the Midway on both Saturday and Sunday from 1 – 6:30pm.
5. The first Jazz Festival Artist-in-Residence – Geof Bradfield, a renowned composer, saxophone and woodwind performer, will lead an open rehearsal on September 21 and final performance on September 23, both at Kenwood Academy in Hyde Park.  He will be working with both the Hyde Park School of Dance and the Kenwood Academy Jazz Band.
6. Reel Jazz Films – Take a walk down memory lane with some of the all-time greatest jazz artists.  During the Jazz Fest at I-House watch 3 30-minute programs of rare jazz short films from the 1930s shown on 16mm film featuring Cab Calloway, Gene Krupa, Louis Armstrong, and more.

HISTORY of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival

The first Hyde Park Jazz Festival, in September 2007, was created to bring new audiences into the many arts and cultural organizations in Hyde Park and to celebrate jazz’s great legacy and bright future on Chicago’s South Side.  Over 5,000 jazz fans enjoyed 12 hours of free, nonstop jazz played inside many of Hyde Park’s museums, theaters, art centers and cultural venues as well as the James W. Wagner Main Stage performances on the Midway Plaisance on the University of Chicago campus.  In only five years the Hyde Park Jazz Festival has established itself as one of the premier annual musical festivals in Chicago – named Best Neighborhood Music Festival by Chicago Magazine.  This year the Jazz Fest expands to 2 days and 20 hours presenting Chicago’s greatest jazz musicians to an anticipated crowd of over 20,000 jazz lovers.  The Hyde Park Jazz Festival is co-produced by the Hyde Park Alliance for Arts & Culture and the Hyde Park Jazz Society with Music Producer Carolyn Albritton.  The event is made possible through the help of over 400 dedicated volunteers and Jazz Festival Committee and our generous funders and sponsors.

VENUES

Last year the Saturday performances were heard throughout the Hyde Park neighborhood.  Music rang out from 13 different venues beginning at 1pm and with jazz played nonstop throughout the day, concluding with the Midnight Jam hosted by the fabulous Dee Alexander in Mandel Hall on the University of Chicago campus. Sunday, September 25th, all of the programming was on the James W. Wagner Main Stage on the Midway Plaisance South between Woodlawn and Ellis Avenues from 1 – 8pm. See venue map here.

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HOURS

The 2011 Hyde Park Jazz Festival featured 20 hours of jazz on September 24 and 25.  Saturday’s programming began at 1pm and ran for 13 hours of non-stop jazz through to the Midnight Jam session concluding at 2am.  Sunday jazz on the James W. Wagner main stage was performed from 1:00 – 8:00pm.  Download the complete PDF schedule here.

Tickets

All performances are FREE and open to the public. Note that some venues have limited seating capacity. Seating will be available on a first come first served basis. (For those that want to help support the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, there are special Jazz Passes available for a contribution of $125 that will provide access to preferred seating at select Festival performances.)

Check out pictures from last year’s Jazz Festival on Flickr.

Great jazz and great food go together and in Hyde Park and at the Jazz Festival we have an abundance of both.  The 2011 Jazz Fest saw an expansion of the food and beverage vendors on the Midway and many of the jazz venues also included dining options. And, as always, there is a wide variety of cuisines from throughout the Hyde Park neighborhood. Learn more about the many dining options in Hyde Park here.

The majority of the jazz festival venues are located in close proximity to each other. Festival attendees are encouraged to park and then walk to the venues of interest. The Midway Plaisance South served as the transportation hub for the festival.  Free Parking is available in the Ellis Avenue Parking Garage, at the south-east corner of 55th street and Ellis Avenue.

Shuttles
In 2011 Festival shuttles transported attendees to all venues free of charge before, during and after all performances. For more information on how to get to Hyde Park and where to park, visit the Transportation section of this web site.

Bicycles
We highly encourage festival goers to bike to the festival (from the Lake Shore Bike Path) or use public transportation to go to and from festival venues.

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This event is organized and produced largely by volunteers. We need additional help on the day of the festival. If you would like to volunteer for the 2012 Hyde Park Jazz Festival please sign up here.

Families
Children of all ages are welcome. There will be special FREE programming and activities for the young jazz lovers near the main stage on the Midway in between performances.

Access and special needs
For information regarding access to venues for people with disabilities, please e-mail HydeParkJazz@Hypachicago.org.

Weather
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will take place rain or shine. Please visit this website and the Hyde Park Jazz Festival Facebook page regularly for the most up-to-date information.