The Hyde Park Jazz Festival returns with a compelling mix of local and out-of-town talent
September 18, 2024
The programming for this year’s Hyde Park Jazz Festival once again defies the implicit parochialism of the festival’s name: this is a weekend of music that any major city on Earth would be proud to call its own. The two-day fest balances accessible local acts that go well with picnicking on the Midway Plaisance with representatives of Chicago’s cutting-edge improvised-music community, then tops off the bill with excellent out-of-town performers. In addition to the live music, the festival will also present the debut film screening of Rob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra, a concert film featuring a homecoming concert by former Chicagoan Mazurek at the Adler Planetarium a couple years ago. (Full disclosure: A review I wrote of that concert has been repurposed as the liner notes of the accompanying soundtrack album.)