07.29.2010        Tortoise 2.0

Tortoise kicks off the series with a world premiere, concert-length commission featuring Dan Bitney, John Herndon, Douglas McCombs, John McEntire and Jeff Parker along with Ed Wilkerson, Greg Ward, Nicole Mitchell, Jim Baker and Fred Lonberg-Holm. Unique in the world of contemporary music, the group is known for its boundless intellectual curiosity, unmistakable compositional voice and contradictory sound worlds.

08.05.2010   Mary Lou Williams at 100 featuring Bethany Pickens and Amina Claudine Myers

Bethany Pickens leads an all star band in a retrospective to honor jazz innovator, composer and pianist Mary Lou Williams, who arranged for Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and Earl Hines, and mentored Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Thelonius Monk, among others. Amina Claudine Myers’ special commission salutes Williams, in honor of the jazz pioneer’s hundredth birthday. Participating as Music Director, Richard Wang, noted historian and Music Professor Emeritus at UOIC and project consultant Cecilia Smith from New York make certain that the celebration will engage the whole spectrum of Williams’ power.

08.12.2010     Toumani Diabate and the Chicago Transilience Ensemble

Internationally acclaimed Malian kora master Toumani Diabate, continues his collaboration with Chicago’s jazz community in a concert of original and newly commissioned material. Toumani Diabate joins the Chicago Transilience Ensemble led by Jeb Bishop and Josh Berman with Hamid Drake, Josh Abrams, Jeff Parker, Jason Adasiewicz, Nicole Mitchell and Nate Lepine for an evening of cross-cultural fertilization, improvisation and expanded musical frontiers.

08.19.2010    Django: A Celebration featuring Alfonso Ponticelli and Swing Gitan with Special Guests

Belgian-born Gypsy jazz guitarist, Jean “Django” Reinhardt revolutionized the way people think about the guitar and helped pioneer a hybrid form of jazz, known for its hot grooves. To mark his centennial birthday, Alfonso Ponticelli along with guests Ensemble Zaiti from France and Stephane Wrembel and Arturo Martinez from New York join Swing Gitan to tell Django’s musical story and remind us why his style and sound reverberate throughout the jazz world today. Also featuring Tony Ballog, Beau Sample, Jason Miller, Howard Levy, Gerald Dowd, Pat Mallinger, Steve Gibons, Nicolae Feraru, Juliano Milo and Larry Bowen.

08.26.2010   Latin Inferno: James Sanders Conjunto with Special Guests Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, Papo Santiago and Fred Anderson

Steeped in the Afro-Cuban musical tradition, violinist James Sanders can be seen and heard across Chicago from symphonies to Latin clubs and everywhere in between. This night, his Latin Jazz band, Conjunto, featuring Steve Eisen, Jose Porcayo, Luis Rosario, Roel Trevino, Donald Neale, Jean-Christophe Leroy and Brett Benteler welcomes members of Cerqua Rivera Dance Company, vocalist Papo Santiago and special guest saxophonist Fred Anderson for an evening of fiery music making.

For more information about this performance, visit: http://www.chicagolatinjazz.com/http://www.chicagolatinjazz.com.

09.02.2010  Big Band Birthday Bash: Ahmad Jamal’s 80th with the Chicago Jazz Orchestra**

Time 7:30pm – 10:00pm

What better place to feature a pioneer of musical rhythm and space than in Millennium Park’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion? A seminal pianist with strong Chicago ties; Ahmad Jamal’s impact on jazz spans a good portion of his eighty years. Jeff Lindberg’s Chicago Jazz Orchestra renews its engagement with Jamal and his trio for a big band birthday bash in the Park.