Dec 9, 2025 12:28 PM
In Memoriam: Gordon Goodwin, 1954–2025
Gordon Goodwin, an award-winning saxophonist, pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger, died Dec. 8 in Los Angeles.…
Harpist Brandee Younger is among the performers on the program for this year’s Hyde Park Jazz Fest in Chicago.
(Photo: Erin O’Brien)The 18th Annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival will be held on 13 unique stages across Chicago’s Hyde Park, Kenwood and Washington Park neighborhoods on Sept. 28–29. The festival lineup features more than 36 free performances and includes visiting national artists alongside some of Chicago’s brightest lights. Venues include The Smart Museum, International House, Rockefeller Chapel, Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, Hyde Park Bank, Hyde Park Union Church, The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, Augustana Church, Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, Hyde Park Art Center and the Midway Plaisance.
Drummer and composer Nate Smith, who fuses his original compositions with an eclectic mix of music, will join this year’s lineup for a solo performance. Harpist Brandee Younger and pianist and MacArthur Fellow Courtney Bryan will present a special collaboration. Drummer Willie Jones III’s quintet featuring Jeremy Pelt will present “Our Man Higgins” in tribute to the prolific drummer Billy Higgins. Flutist/saxophonist Anna Webber and clarinetist Ben Goldberg will travel to Chicago to join Geof Bradfield’s (reeds/mbira) new project Colossal Abundance. Anna Webber will also perform a duo set with pianist Matt Mitchell.
Guitarist Jeff Parker and drummer Jeremy Clemmons will join Chicago pianist Justin Dillard for a new trio, The Wherewithal. The Boston-based Makanda Project will collaborate with Chicago vocalist Dee Alexander. Pianist Craig Taborn brings his trio with cellist Tomeka Reid and drummer Ches Smith. And guitarist Bobby Broom will present his trio with visiting drummer Kobie Watkins, a long-time colleague. The annual Rockefeller Chapel performance to close Saturday night’s activities will feature a solo performance by trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire.
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will celebrate the 100th anniversary of African American writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin’s birthday (born Aug. 2, 1924) with a performance in collaboration with the Hyde Park Art Center and Chicago Poet Laureate avery r. young and de deacon board ensemble. The performance will be set amid artist Robert Earl Paige’s exhibition “The United Colors of Robert Earl Paige.”
The festival has also added a video project, “Rob Mazurak Exploding Star Orchestra, Live at the Adler Planetarium,” which documents a singular performance that featured original images by Mazurek projected onto the planetarium’s domed ceiling during hypnotic interpretations of music from the most recent Exploding Star Orchestra album, Lightning Dreamers (International Anthem).
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival is free to the public, but attendees are asked to consider a $10 per person donation. For additional information, CLICK HERE. DB
Goodwin was one of the most acclaimed, successful and influential jazz musicians of his generation.
Dec 9, 2025 12:28 PM
Gordon Goodwin, an award-winning saxophonist, pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger, died Dec. 8 in Los Angeles.…
Flea has returned to his first instrument — the trumpet — and assembled a dream band of jazz musicians to record a new album.
Dec 2, 2025 2:01 AM
After a nearly five-decade career as one of his generation’s defining rock bassists, Flea has returned to his first…
Belá Fleck during an interview with Fredrika Whitfield on CNN.
Jan 13, 2026 2:09 PM
The fallout from the renaming of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to include President Donald…
“It’s a pleasure and an honor to interpret the music of Oscar Peterson in his native city,” said Jim Doxas in regard to celebrating the Canadian legend. “He traveled the world, but never forgot Montreal.”
Nov 18, 2025 12:16 PM
In the pantheon of jazz luminaries, few shine as brightly, or swing as hard, as Oscar Peterson. A century ago, a…
Dec 11, 2025 11:00 AM
DownBeat presents a complete list of the 4-, 4½- and 5-star albums from 2025 in one convenient package. It’s a great…
