2023 Back Alley Jazz
After 5 amazing years of co-producing Back Alley Jazz with residents of South Shore, the Hyde Park Jazz Festival (HPJF) and its neighborhood partners convened for a series of conversations to consider how best to sustain the dynamic energy and community engagement that propelled Back Alley Jazz to become a local annual event. This year will be an important year for creating a sustainable model which balances the administrative and creative support HPJF provides with increased levels of neighborhood commitment as co-producers.
Back Alley Jazz will continue to be produced as a collaborative neighborhood initiative but in an extended format. The model for 2023 shifts its approach to include June-September pop-up performances across South Shore that connect to existing block club events in the area. Neighborhood groups will provide the performance location and serve as hosts. The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will provide a stage, sound equipment, and tech support, and help program and cover the costs of each band.
A calendar of performances, free and open to the public, will be published in late May.
If you are a resident of South Shore and would like to host a performance on your block, please see the specifics below about what the Hyde Park Jazz Festival can provide and what partnering neighborhood groups would commit to providing and fill out and submit the application.
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will be responsible for:
The Festival will create an admin/production team to:
Oversee the production of performance
Provide staging
Sound engineering
Provide PA
Provide MC (if needed)
Artist fees for one ensemble of up to 5 number of musicians
Some public marketing if desired
Maintain the overall performance calendar
The Block Clubs or Community Groups will be responsible for:
Coordinating all other elements of producing the event, much as they would a block party. Responsibilities include:
Setup and breakdown of everything not related to the stage and sound equipment
Chairs and tables
Local promotion
Food (if any)
Local artisan vendors (if any)
Activities (if any)
Trash pick up and portable restrooms (if any)
Process for requesting partnership
Complete the 2023 Back Alley Jazz Partnership Request Form
A BAJ representative will follow-up with you regarding your proposed event
In partnership with
South Shore Residents
With funding from
A Grant from the Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events with Funding from The Walder Foundation
past BACK ALLEY JAZZ events
2022 Back Alley Jazz
BACK ALLEY JAZZ 2021
BACK ALLEY JAZZ 2020
back alley jazz 2019
Back alley jazz 2018
Case Study from 2018:
additional resources about the jazz alley jams tradition:
“The photographs in this exhibit document an event spanning over ten years, in one place - an alley on the south side of Chicago.
Every Sunday, the alley between St. Lawrence and Champlain hosted a battle - a Jazz battle, in Pop’s garage. DJs dueled to the sounds of Jimmy Smith, Lester Young, and Gene Ammons while people young and old grooved to the vibe that made everyone feel as one.
I was introduced to “The Alley” by Jimmy Ellis (photograph right by Jimmy Ellis) who hosted a live jam session in the garage once a month. Jimmy also introduced me to photography. This exhibit showcases some of the many photos that Jimmy and I took at the “Sunday Afternoon Jazz Set,” as it was formally known.
This project is dedicated to all who have come and gone and contributed to the beauty every Sunday afternoon.”
“Portrait of a Chicago Community 1966-1976” FROM THE MUSEUM OF PUBLIC ART
the alley lp: audio interviews from the smart museum
“Sunshine blue skies Saturdays, bring your chairs, kick back and enjoy the “jazzical sounds” coming from the South Side with love, on the plaza.”
“We approached these topics not in order to ascertain all the facts about the alley’s different manifestations—a worthy goal, but beyond our scope—but in order to gather and tell what stories we could in the spirit of intergenerational sharing and bread-breaking.”
UNIVERSAL ALLEY JAZZ JAM summer 2019