Sep 3, 2026 10:44 AM
In Memoriam: Cassandra Wilson, 1955–2026
Cassandra Wilson, a singer, songwriter and producer who was one of the most acclaimed and successful jazz vocalists of…
A solo concert by saxophonist Joshua Redman will close the first night of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival on Sept. 26.
(Photo: Courtesy Joshua Redman)The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will take place for the 20th time on the final weekend of September 2026. Beginning half past noon on Saturday, Sept. 26, and ending at 6 p.m. the next day, it will host ensembles and solo artists representing aspects of jazz’s past, present and future, playing at 10 locations scattered across the Chicago neighborhood from which the event takes its name. They will include two museums, two churches, a bank, a performing arts center and a pair of outdoor stages set up on the Midway Plaisance. While admission is free, a voluntary $10 donation is requested.
The festival grew out of the efforts of the Hyde Park Jazz Society, which staged migratory concerts in order to counter the erosion of opportunities to hear jazz on Chicago’s South Side. Kate Dumbleton, the festival’s artistic and executive director, initially encountered the society shortly after moving to the city in 2006. “The first time I went to the Jazz Society Sunday-night thing is when it was at Room 43. It was packed every week. A group of mostly senior citizens were hauling sound equipment into an empty banquet space and setting up tables, and then there were 200 people there, dressed to the nines. Coming from San Francisco, that was such a marvel to me, and also I just thought it was so beautiful because the musicians loved it, and they were getting paid.” Dumbleton, who joined the festival in 2012, characterizes it as mycelial. “I use that word as a way of talking about a sort of embedded network that exists underground, so to speak, and mostly as a point of reference around how much the jazz culture, the music, its history and its present are inextricably linked to a kind of underground. You know, it’s really embedded in the earth.”
The festival remains true to its communal roots. It is largely staffed by volunteers. While its programming expresses a globally conscious understanding of jazz as a living, evolving art form, it continues to put performers from Chicago’s South Side in front of audiences on their home turf. Whether you want to hear adventurous music in a hushed listening space or kick back with a lawn chair and a picnic basket, the festival has something for you. This year, it will commence with a ceremony to name one of its outdoor stages after the late pianist Willie Pickens. Says Dumbleton, “Orbert Davis played the first note of the first festival in 2007, and so he’s going to play the first note of the festival in 2026.” Davis, a trumpeter, bandleader and educator who is the cofounder of the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, will also play a full set with his sextet.
“To celebrate the 20th anniversary,” says Dumbleton, “we really wanted to highlight some of the artists that have literally been with the festival since it started. People like Makaya (McCraven) and Tomeka (Reid) and Marquise (Hill) and Nicole (Mitchell) were all playing in the festival before I was even around.” While some of these musicians no longer live in Chicago, they have regularly returned to the festival, and each of them will present something new this year. McCraven and Hill will be joined by Junius Paul and Joel Ross in the 20th Anniversary Band, which has been formed for this occasion. The festival has commissioned alto saxophonist and bandleader Greg Ward to contribute a new work; Held Together will explore his earliest musical experiences in the Black church. Flutist Mitchell will introduce her Afro-folk-futuristic quartet, Black Earth SWAY, and trumpeter and santoor player Amir ElSaffar, who grew up in Oak Park, will bring his latest quartet, which uses microtonal tuning to reconcile jazz and Iraqi maqam. Cellist Reid will lead an octet in a tribute to Duke Ellington, and cornetist Rob Mazurek will bring his new Prismatic Trio, which features two vibraphonists.
South Side tradition will be represented by two separate celebrations of the legacy of the late songwriter, storyteller and civil rights advocate Oscar Brown Jr.. The Brown Sisters is led by two of his daughters; the other is a group led by singers Dee Alexander and Bruce Henry. Octogenarian tenor saxophonist and pianist Ari Brown (no relation to Oscar), who is a festival regular, will return with his long-running quintet. Newer local talent includes the electroacoustic chamber duo of alto saxophonist Sarah Clausen and cellist Caroline Jesalva, and Wonder Wonder, in which singer-keyboardist Sharon Udoh and bassist Joshua Abrams mingle spiritual traditions. And among the out-of-towners are pianist Kris Davis’ trio featuring Robert Hurst and Johnathan Blake, keyboardist Emmet Cohen presenting a tribute to Miles Davis and John Coltrane, and a solo concert by saxophonist Joshua Redman will close the first night at the Rockefeller Chapel. DB
Wilson’s ability to connect to audiences helped her to win two Grammy awards and multiple other accolades. She was named an NEA Jazz Master in 2022.
Sep 3, 2026 10:44 AM
Cassandra Wilson, a singer, songwriter and producer who was one of the most acclaimed and successful jazz vocalists of…
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