The Jazz Links program began in 2002 from grassroots advocacy from the band teachers in several high schools across Chicago who were seeking support for their efforts to develop young jazz musicians. The Jazz Institute responded to their immediate needs by creating artist residencies as well as helping to develop other ideas, such as the Jazz Links Jam Sessions and the All City Jazz Band Competition that came from regularly convening what we came to call the Jazz Links Teachers Advisory Board.
Artist Residencies have since grown from four to eight, including three elementary schools; the All City Jazz Band Competition invites 14 jazz bands form across the city, the Jazz Links Jam Sessions serve over 20 schools, and the Jazz Links Student Council (JLSC) gives students an opportunity to develop leadership skills, take master classes and form small performing ensembles. A partnership with Columbia College Chicago includes master classes for the Jazz Links Student Council members, opportunities for the JLSC members to perform with the Chicago Jazz Ensemble and the development of a new collaboration with all of the CPS band and music instructors.
For the third year, Made in Chicago: World Class Jazz series highlights Chicago’s own jazz musicians who explore everything from the roots of blues and ragtime to big band swing and beyond. Co-programmed by the Jazz Institute of Chicago and the Department of Cultural Affairs, and presented by Millennium Park, the series is sponsored by the Chicago Jazz Partnership whose members include The Boeing Company, Kraft Foods, The Joyce Foundation, JP Morgan Chase, and The Chicago Community Trust.
“One of the delights of programming this series is the ability to approach our city's world class artists and offer them free reign to create new work composed specifically for Millennium Park,” said Jazz Institute of Chicago Executive Director Lauren Deutsch. “The end result has quickly proved to the world that the jazz musicians of Chicago are second to none. This year's series shines a light on the women whose voices have eloquently contributed to the musical conversation we call jazz.”
The JazzCity free concert series is a collaboration that we initiated with the Chicago Park District in 1997 that explores cultural connections in communities throughout Chicago.
The simple premise of the JazzCity series is to connect people of all ethnicities and generations to the legacy (both musical and spiritual) of jazz in Chicago. Make it accessible by presenting it free of charge, and located right in the neighborhood; interview musicians onstage to add some historical context and invite people to share food and conversation with the musicians afterward. Five programs travel citywide--repeating the themes of Bebop Brass, Big Band/Big Dance, Sonidos Calientes (Hot Sounds), Saxophone Summit and Jazz Cabaretwith a different roster of performers presenting their interpretations of the themes at each venue. Other concerts in the program defy category, such as Tatsu Aoki's Miyumi Project, coming up in May of this year. For the musicians, it's been a great opportunity for them to present and create new compositions. For the audiences, it's been an opportunity to bring families and friends to see world class musicians in their own backyard. It has also been a unique venue for artists to create and present major experimental projects. In 1998 at Washington Park for 3 on 3: Music is the Game, under the direction of Douglas Ewart , basketball players became dancers and poets. A year later at Fuller Park, composer Maia was commissioned to collaborate with residents to write and produce a performance piece that combined poetry, music, dance and sports, using basketball as a metaphor to examine issues in women's lives. Community residents participated in Playin' Ta Win as poets, dancers and players. In 2002 Ameen Muhammad's Roots N D Blues jazz opera re-interpreted the book of Genesis with blues and jazz music and dance. Nicole Mitchell's inspirational Vision Quest explored urban teen issues in a multi-media project that involved community memberson the west side of Chicago.
JazzCity fosters greater awareness of the continuing legacy of Chicago's vibrant jazz community and an unparalleled opportunity for musicians to reach audiences where they live.
The Jazz Institute of Chicago was founded in 1969 by a small band of jazz fans, writers, club owners and musicians who came together to preserve the historical roots of the Chicago's music and to ensure that opportunities for the music to be heard would not be lost in a time when rock was subsuming cultural economics. Among the founding members were trad pianist Art Hodes, Muhal Richard Abrams, who a few years earlier had also co-founded the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Joe Segal, whose Jazz Showcase has kept the flame for bebop lit for 50 years, Bob Koester, owner of Delmark Records, Don DeMicheal, drummer and editor of Downbeat magazine, jazz promoter and supporter Penny Tyler and several other devoted souls. The operating principle was, and continues to be based on the recognition that all forms of the music should be equally represented in whatever we do. From the Annual Jazz Fair that we began in 1979 to the Chicago Jazz Festival which we began programming in 1979, to the hundreds of concerts and programs presented all over the city, we have sought to open peoples' ears to new music by standing the familiar and the unfamiliar side by side.
In the 80's we brought a jazz curriculum into the Chicago Public High Schools that became a template for similar programs all over the country. In 1997 we began a partnership with the Chicago Park District. The citywide JazzCity concert series brings Chicago's stellar talent right into the neighborhoods, for free.
In 1999 the American Composers Forum joined us in initiating the Chicago Composers Project, to commission composers to create collaborative compositions with residents of the city's communities. We began by celebrating the storied history of Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood--home to Louis Armstrong and numerous other important jazz innovators. Then to Humboldt Park where Afro-Caribbean music found it's way into the city's heartbeat. In 2001 the diversity of Asian communities in Chicago was explored and in 2002 our large Polish population contributed to the effort.
Our newest program is Jazz Links: a partnership with music teachers working in Chicago public schools. It jumped off in 2003 with musician residencies in four public high schools, the regeneration of the All City High School Jazz Band Competition and a really exciting new initiative, monthly Jazz Links Student Jam Sessions at the Chicago Cultural Center. We're talking about starting a Jazz Summer School soon, too.
We undertake these endeavors because we want to ensure that new audiences continue to be developed for the music, and that Chicago's place in its history be recognized and presented.
We feel that many of our programs create opportunities for people to transform their lives via arts and culture. And we are committed to ensuring that the great jazz legacy of Chicago will continue to enrich and inspire our lives for many generations to come.
The Jazz Institute of Chicago's Friend Space (Top 13)
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Aaron Koppel Quartet @ Andy's Jazz Club 11/20 and 11/21
We are very excited about playing at such an awesome jazz club. We have some great sets lined up for you, so don't miss it.
Friday and Saturday November 20th and 21st, 5:00-8:30p at Andy's Jazz Club The Aaron Koppel Quartet 5-8:30p, Corey Wilkes group plays at 9:30p 11 E. Hubbard St. Chicago, IL 60611 The Aaron Koppel Quartet performing original music from "The Wild Call Of The Multi-Takser" and their new album "Falling Together Falling Apart", jazz standards, covers by Radiohead and James Brown. New album will be available for purchase at the show. 21+ Cover $10
Aaron Koppel -Guitar, Matt Nelson; (Lupe Fiasco, Matthew Santos) -Keyboard, Graham Czach; (Chicago Afrobeat Project) -bass, Robert Tucker (Matthew Santos) -drums http://www.andysjazzclub.com http://www.myspace.com/aaronkoppelmusic http://www.coreywilkes.com
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