The Jazz Institute of Chicago was invited again to co-curate a series of jazz concerts in Poznan, Poland on November 16, 17 and 18, 2007. Following the success of last year, the theme of the series continued the “Made in Chicago” concept by assembling a group of musicians who represent the great legacy of Jazz in Chicago. (To view photos click here)
The group of 13 musicians included Fred Anderson, Douglas Ewart, Robert Irving III, Maggie Brown, Dee Alexander, Harrison Bankhead, Dushun Mosley, Edward Wilkerson, Art Hoyle, Larry Gray, Mwata Bowden, Charles Heath and Darius Savage . The festival’s hallmark is the sense of community that is communicated by the artists who each played in various contexts with each other. The Made in Chicago in Poland Festival represents a broad swath of Chicago jazz history and diverse forms of the music. The musicians performed six concerts over the three day festival in different groupings, in small and large concert halls and one jazz club. Douglas Ewart and Robert Irving III exhibited visual art work in an exhibition that was part of the festival.
Our partner in this endeavor, Wojciech Juszczak, is the Artistic Director of Estrada, (estrada.poznan.pl) a state-run cultural arts agency in Poznan. Mr. Juszczak conceived the idea of presenting a spectrum of Jazz music from Chicago as a way to introduce Polish audiences and musicians with the originators of the art form. This year the festival was broadcast live and on the internet in Poznan through a University radio station. Local and national media covered the event and reviewed its concerts.
Highlights of the festival included the response to Jazz Elder Fred Anderson, who received a standing ovation before he played a single note. As the music mesmerized the capacity crowd, you could easily close your eyes and imagine you were at the small club on east Cermak Avenue that Fred Anderson owns and operates. Maggie Brown brought not only her father’s (Oscar Brown Jr.) legacy, but her own influences as well. Vocalist Dee Alexander appeared with Ms. Brown, and also with Douglas Ewart’s Inventions and Robert Irving III’s trio, when a jam session broke out after Irving’s set. Chicago’s bass tradition was represented by Larry Gray and Harrison Bankhead; an extension of a JazzCity project we produced in 2007 that included a commissioned piece by Larry Gray. The commissioned suite was expanded for Made in Chicago and walked the audience through the swing and bebop rhythms of Milt Hinton and Wilbur Ware to the experimental territory of Malachi Favors and Fred Hopkins. While musically diverse, each concert brought home the sense that for these musicians, musical boundaries do not exist.
For the musicians, the chance to work together in different contexts once again brought new experiences to many of them. Bass player Larry Gray, well known as a straight-ahead player jumped into the creative improvised music of Douglas Ewart’s Inventions. Ewart and Irving’s collaboration on the art exhibition not only shined the light on their visual artistic endeavors, but also gave them the opportunity to exchange ideas in that dimension.
We have received inquiries about exporting the festival to other countries, and it is hard to imagine a greater way to achieve diplomacy (and perhaps world peace!) than by sending jazz ambassadors from Chicago all over the world.
