Sep 22, 2026 12:26 PM
Hyde Park Jazz Fest on Chicago’s South Side to Present 20th Edition
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will take place for the 20th time on the final weekend of September 2026. Beginning half…
Gary Bartz collaborated with the UK-based ensemble Maisha for Gary Bartz & Maisha—Night Dreamer Direct-To-Disc Sessions.
(Photo: Elaine Groenestein)With or without lyrics, the conversation had to happen.
“Some of the musicians didn’t understand, so they felt uncomfortable, especially when I say, ‘I won’t raise you and your children no more.’ Coming from England, they didn’t know I was talking about the mammies that would suckle the so-called white babies, when the mammies had their own kids to suckle.”
That conversation led to a larger discussion on intention. The inclusion of “Uhuru Sasa” on Night Dreamer begged the question: How might a shift in context affect the music’s message?
“We thought, majority white musicians from the UK playing that song in the time that we’re playing it maybe doesn’t make sense,” said Long. “But Gary felt that [the] song can transcend.”
During their discussions, Bartz shared a memory from years ago when he was performing in Germany. He received a pointed declaration from a number of listeners citing dissatisfaction with his NTU Troop repertoire, because they didn’t really understand it.
“I said, ‘Well that’s OK. I understand if you didn’t really like it,’” said Bartz. “‘I wasn’t really writing that music for you. I was writing it for my community, my people.’”
Three days at Artone studio in the Netherlands yielded five tracks teeming with texture, lyrical storytelling and a pervasive heartbeat—at once refined and raw. And while Bartz and Maisha credit the album’s organic nature with deep listening and a sensitive understanding of each other’s tendencies, they’re looking forward to further developing a sound of their own.
Long hopes Night Dreamer will serve to whet the listener’s appetite for what’s to come.
“The reason I’m so excited to get back on tour is to build up that band relationship [with Gary] and develop a really strong concept,” Long said, “as opposed to a moment in time captured in performance.” DB
A solo concert by saxophonist Joshua Redman will close the first night of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival on Sept. 26.
Sep 22, 2026 12:26 PM
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will take place for the 20th time on the final weekend of September 2026. Beginning half…
“It was just that suddenly … I could hear it,” Ravi Coltrane said of an epiphany he experienced during his late teens regarding his father’s music. “And it was almost like a calling, like something saying, ‘Hey, man, come on. It’s time to get serious.’ And the first time you really tune in and dial in and focus like that, it can be very life-changing.”
Sep 22, 2026 1:39 PM
Editor’s Note: Tomorrow, Sept. 23, is the 100th anniversary of John Coltrane’s birth. In honor of the tenor and…
Camille Thurman took to the stage alongside bassist Kenny Davis and drummer Tommy Campbell for a rendition of Johnny Mercer’s “I’m An Old Cowhand” that recalled Rollins’ epochal 1957 trio outing Way Out West.
Oct 6, 2026 1:33 PM
As emcee Mark Ruffin noted at the commencement of an epic tribute to saxophonist Sonny Rollins at the Cathedral of…
Kurt Elling, Katherine Russell and Emmet Cohen (host on the 2027 Jazz Cruise) share a laugh at sea.
Sep 8, 2026 11:52 AM
It began in 2001. A travel agent named Anita E. Berry had been booking clients on “partial” jazz cruises that took…
Record producer Bob Thiele’s classic photo that became the cover of John Coltrane’s landmark album A Love Supreme.
Sep 22, 2026 1:36 PM
A tribute to John Coltrane is one thing, but there is much more to the iconic saxophonist’s 100th anniversary…
