All tagged AACM
The 2026 Chicago Jazz Festival continued its four day run on Saturday, September 5, 2026. The third day’s highlight was the Miles Electric Band, an assemblage featuring some of Chicago’s top jazz musicians. Its purpose: To pay tribute to trumpet master Miles Davis and the music he produced during his electric period. Here are my thoughts about and images from Day 3 of the festival.
Isaiah Collier brought his saxophones and the Chosen Few to the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts on Friday, May 1, 2026 to close out International Jazz Day week with a tribute to John Coltrane. Here are my thoughts about and images from the concert.
The third day of the 2025 Chicago Jazz Festival brought a variety of jazz styles to Chicago’s Millennium Park. Alto saxophonist Gary Bartz played some funk, as well as the airy sounds of early Seventies electrified jazz. Closing out the day, Kermit Ruffins and the Barbeque Swingers played many familiar songs rooted in the New Orleans jazz tradition. Here are my thoughts and images from the day’s performances.
Saturday night I stopped by Mike Reed’s Constellation Chicago to hear alto saxophonist Greg Ward pay tribute to the great Fred Anderson. Here are my thoughts about and images from the performance.
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it, and for Jack B. Siegel’s commentary and additional photographs.]
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it and for additional photographs and commentary]
Mwata Bowden, a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), brought his band, One Foot In, One Foot Out, to the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art for a Tuesdays on the Terrace performance. Bowden is not to be missed, particularly when he brings Ari Brown (tenor saxophone), Avreeayl Ra (drums), and Harrison Bankhead (bass), all AACM members, with him. Let's not forget Phil Q. on trumpet and Bowden's son, Khari B., who added poetry and rap to the mix.
