gram PROMOTING AND NURTURING JAZZ IN JANUARY 2021 WWW.JAZZINCHICAGO.ORG

ANNUAL JAZZ LINKS JAZZ MASTERS RESIDENCY PROGRAM RETURNS ONLINE BUT STRONGER THAN EVER FOR 2020-2021 8-WEEK PROGRAM OFFERS INSTRUCTION BY 7 DISTINGUISHED MUSICIANS AT 8 CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

With such popular veteran artists as Maggie Brown, Victor Garcia, Ernie Adams and Philip Castleberry as learned participants, the Jazz Institute of Chicago's 2020-2021 Jazz Links Jazz Masters Residency Program continues in the new year for eight weeks at eight public high schools citywide.

Shifting from in-class lessons to online presentations as a result of Covid-19, the program is an online collaboration between the working jazz artists, students and music teachers.

"Our overall aim is to encourage imaginative thinking," said Diane Chandler-Marshall, the JIC's Director of Education and Artist Development. "And not only on the part of the students, but also the jazz artists in residence and the teachers." Some of those teachers expand their skills by adding jazz training to their classical backgrounds.

That spirit of creativity is represented in the videos produced for future jazz players and their instructors by the Jazz Masters, which range from lessons in the history of jazz and to the "circle of fourths" to the essentials of a good jam session. "Sadly, Top row (left to right): Ernie Adams, Ruben Alvarez, Maggie Brown, we can't be together in person," said Philip Castleberry. Bottom row: Victor Garcia, Darius Hampton, trumpeter and band leader Garcia. "But Thaddeus Tukes. hopefully the video will serve you well in your musical journey."

The program also strives to promote a positive self-image for students in regard to their cultural heritage. The individual schools are able to shape the lessons to their needs. For example, at Eric Solorio Academy, located in Gage Park on the Southwest Side, the demand is for Latin jazz instruction – and so the great percussionist Ruben Alvarez is in the teacher's chair. He is a stalwart in the longstanding band Chevere De Chicago and director of the Latin Jazz Ensemble at Roosevelt University and also teaches at .

Morgan Park High School, located on the far South Side, wanted someone to teach composition, a role that

continued on page 2 JAZZ IN CHICAGO JANUARY 2021 2 continued from page 1 is more than ably filled by saxophonistDarius Hampton. A member of the South Side Big Band, he teaches at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music – and helped the JIC establish its well-attended annual summer program, the Straight Ahead Jazz Exchange.

In transitioning to online sessions, the Jazz Institute learned from monthly online showings of the jam sessions it presents at the venerable Jazz Showcase in which student musicians get to perform with world-class professionals in the Jazz Links house band. The sessions have reached a surprisingly wide audience, not only in Chicago, but in distant locales.

"We've been able to not only share the music, but also raise the Chicago jazz community's profile as one of the most caring and involved," said Chandler-Marshall. "This is a really close-knit community, one that feels like family. There's not the same level of competitiveness there is in other places. Our artists are committed to sharing their gifts, passing tradition on and keeping it alive."

Here is the complete lineup of instructors for the 2020-2021 Jazz Links Jazz Masters Residency Program: • Eric Solorio Academy -Ruben Alvarez • Lincoln Park High School- Philip Castleberry • Mary Lyon School - Thaddeus Tukes • Senn High School - Victor Garcia • Whitney Young Magnet High School - Ernie Adams • Pritzker College Prep - Darius Hampton and Thaddeus Tukes • Morgan Park High School - Darius Hampton • Lindbloom Math and Science Academy - Maggie Brown

The Jazz Institute of Chicago's "Jazz Links Education Program" is an educational music resource/tool for Chicago Public Schools students, teachers and schools. Working with local and nationally known Jazz Musicians/ Educators the program is designed to encourage imaginative thinking, creativity, a positive self-image and respect for a student's own and other's cultural heritage. The strength of our program is that it is a holistic approach to musical education and introduces students to a rich and comprehensive experience of learning, performing, and engagement with working jazz musicians. A diverse set of programs creates a pathway for the student and their teachers to receive Chicago's jazz legacy directly transmitted through engagement with its living musical legends who serve as mentors in our programs. In addition to building student confidence in their performance, the development of leadership, communication, critical thinking and team-building skills are other notable outcomes of the program. The Jazz Institute’s "Jazz Links Education Program" fosters creative and expanded opportunities for school-aged youth by increasing the impact of existing jazz programs through artist residencies. We provide alternative approaches for addressing achievement gaps in disparately-impacted students, thus providing a high- quality foundation for the instruction of all students. n “WHEN JUSTICE IS THE MESSAGE” FROM THE JAZZ KITCHEN EXPLORES CUISINE, CIVILIZATION INTERNET DISCUSSION FROM HYDE PARK JAZZ FEST FEATURES DANA HALL, OMAR TATE, AND MONICA HAIRSTON O’CONNELL

BY COREY HALL

Conjure these challenges, and please choose carefully:

You may share your knowledge about Black music, its origins and improvisatory birthmarks, while staring into a computer screen, or…

You may go one step beyond ordering coffee, traveling where you will to consume it in its fullest, and really study this crop’s origins.

For drummer, ethnomusicologist, and educator Dana Hall, these choices are his passions. Sharing his interests in creative music and the culinary arts, he believes, is actually a social enterprise imparted in a “visceral and cerebral fashion.” continued on page 3

JAZZ IN CHICAGO JANUARY 2021 3 continued from page 2 “Talking about music is very difficult through a screen, especially when you’re trying to engender this type of feeling in others who are at the beginning stages of developing it,” Hall said. “And where did I develop that? How do I get that together in a way that I can articulate it in words to people through a screen? It’s funny that that learning process…has been where I found some joy.”

Pleasures such as coffee and chocolate originated in Africa, Hall added. These facts, however, have been muted by cultures that profit from them without acknowledging their origins.

Hall, currently Director of Jazz Studies at DePaul University, expressed these observations during “When Justice is the Message,” an installment in the “Jazz Kitchen,” a series presented via the internet by the Hyde Park Jazz Festival. Sharing virtual space with Hall for this November 18 broadcast were Monica Hairston O’Connell, series organizer and former executive director of the Center for Black Music Research, and Omar Tate, a - based poet, entrepreneur, and chef.

This trio explored multiple socially-sensitive matters, including how the Black literary canon – from Langston Hughes’ actual (or) metaphorical destruction of his books, to the catastrophic tension present in Richard Wright’s Native Son – caused them to assess “institutional knowledge.” (Hall’s multimedia project, “Hypocrisy of Justice,” based on Wright’s novel, was staged in 2015 at Symphony Center.)

When offering his observations, Tate, acclaimed for displaying jazz, hip hop and literature appreciations through his culinary craft, revealed one influence that reached back to the late 1800s. (To further dig Tate’s skills, Dana Hall check out Nereya Otieno’s profile published byokeyplayer.com : “His dinners…are forays into the Black American experience, exhaustingly constructed courses with immense depth of flavor that give snapshots of historical events, musical movements, and cultural ideas that have somehow shaped Black life and American society as a whole.”)

After having read about Tate’s Clorindy steak tartare – named after Clorindy, an 1898 play co-written by Paul Laurence Dunbar – O’Connell asked, “Is there another dish you’re working on that is in deep conversation with something you’re reading now?”

Tate’s initial take addressed Black cuisine being a new concept that is superficial and ego-driven. After Hall intervened and asked for clarification, Monica Hairston O’Connell Tate obliged.

“The dishes that I create bounced in between that need to be heard and felt through literature and music and to bring it forward,” he began, before connecting his reaction to Ahmaud Arbery’s murder to his art. “The rhythm of running (and) the…dishes I’ve been thinking about are edible terrariums…because they capture so much breath and…life. I wanted to build…dishes around small, grown herbs that represent landscapes that people would be breathing and then losing breath.”

As the conversation approached its coda, O’Connell asked the gents what they would appreciate for Thanksgiving, which would happen eight days after the broadcast. Tate, after assuring her that the question was not corny, as she had feared, referred to the adjective “foodie,” which she stated when introducing Hall.

“Do you cook?” Tate asked him.

“I do.”

“What do you like to cook and eat?”

“I like to eat anything that’s good.” Omar Tate continued on page 4

JAZZ IN CHICAGO JANUARY 2021 4

continued from page 3

Exploring non-musical interests, Hall added, has been his thing for the past twenty-five years, when he began studying "Black music, food.. Where there's one, to become a Master Sommelier. He advanced to level two (of four), but further progress would require an invitation from there's the other, right? They delineate restaurants with serious food and beverage offerings. This spaces of Black joy and celebration and presented a problem for Hall. “I work on the weekends,” he said. “I play music. resilience, and they can speak to depths of Black sorrow and the heights of Black “For about six years,” he continued, “I was (thinking), ‘I’m creativity. They are very often at the center going to just leave this music thing. I want to be a chef.’ I’m amassing cookbooks, cooking from them, and I’m learning of our movements, of our politics, and our how to make food and developing a palate for wine.” ongoing fight for social justice."

“I’m glad you didn’t become a chef,” Tate replied. “Not - Monica Hairston O'Connell because I don’t think you could do it, but (because of the gift) Organizer, the Jazz Kitchen you’re giving to the world. I’m happy and thankful for it.” n

*PLEASE NOTE: Not all venues have their schedules set by our deadlines or VIRTUAL EVENTS CALENDAR present jazz exclusively. Call ahead or check their websites.

JAZZ INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO EVENTS January 13 (5PM): Jazz Links Virtual Jam Sessions feat. Marcus Evans https://www.youtube.com/JazzInstituteChicago CONSTELLATION 3111 North Western Ave/ All performances start ar 8:30PM)/ Livestream concerts by donation www.constellation-chicago.com January 9 (8:00PM): CARROLL/ARTRY/WARD - Tickets and Livestream link and can be found at https://www.constellation-chicago.com/calendar/carrollartryward January 15 (8:00PM): FOUR LETTER WORDS - Tickets and Livestream link and can be found at https://www.constellation-chicago.com/calendar/four-letter-words January 16 (8:00PM): ISAIAH COLLIER AND THE CHOSEN FEW - Tickets and Livestream link and can be found at https://www.constellation-chicago.com/calendar/isaiah-collier-and-the-chosen-few January 22 (8:00PM): ARTIFACTS - Tickets and Livestream link and can be found at https://www.constellation-chicago.com/calendar/artifacts January 29 (8:00PM): GLASS HAND - Tickets and Livestream link and can be found at https://www.constellation-chicago.com/calendar/glass-hand FULTON STREET COLLECTIVE/ JAZZ RECORD ART COLLECTIVE 1821 W. Hubbard/773-852-2481. fultonstreetcollective.com/ jazzrecordartcollective.com /All Shows Are Live-Streamed via Facebook and YouTube from FSC. There will be no on-site audience until further notice. All shows start at 8PM. All shows streaming at https://www.youtube.com/fultonstreetcollective January 12: Noah Brooks Coalition January 13: Constantine Alexander Sextet January 14: Katherine Andrick Group perform MANHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA’s "Inner Mounting Flame" January 18: Juli Wood's Little Rootie Tootie Monk Tribute January 19: Runere Brooks Group January 20: Lenard Simpson/Aidan Lombard Quintet January 21: Alexis Lombre & the Midtown Strings January 26: Fission January 27: Greg Dudzienski Quartet January 28: Chris Madsen Sextet perform Wayne Shorter's 1965 release 'Soothsayer' January 29 (8PM): Soul Message GRAYSLAKE PUBLIC LIBRARY 100 Library Lane. Grayslake, IL/(847) 223-5313/ https://grayslake.librarycalendar.com/ January 11 (7PM): WDCB Jammin' in the Stacks - Virtual Jazz Concert featuring Jeanne Becker Duo with Chris White - Virtual Event - For more info and Livestream Link, please visit: https://grayslake.librarycalendar.com/events/youtube-jeanne-becker-duo-jazz-concert MUSIC INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO 1490 Chicago Ave, Evanston, IL/(847) 905-1500/ https://www.musicinst.org January 21 (7PM): MIC’s Free/Virtual Jazz Faculty Lecture Series: "Great Jazz Musicians from Chicago’s South Side" with saxophonist Juli Wood - Virtual Event - For more info and to RSVP, please visit: https://www.musicinst.org/virtual-jazz-lecture-series

JAZZ IN CHICAGO JANUARY 2021 5 CHICAGO JAZZ LABELS

BY HOWARD MANDEL ©2021 [email protected]

Records labels are essential to a music scene's health, and a healthy music scene is the basis of record label success. Chicago jazz, blues, gospel and related music has profited from this synergism for 100 years, from 1921 when Ma Rainey and King Oliver were in the studio recording for Paramount up to now, as new generation innovators and revered elders steeped in the city's musical heritage are presented by a big handful of independent local labels.

To cite alphabetically our city's currently active companies featured this month in a discount program for Jazz Institute of Chicago members: , BluJazz, , International Anthem, The Sirens Records and Southport all offer us a music bounty of identifiably local vintage.

Others also focused on jazz and/or blues in evolution include AECO, Aerophonic, Blind Pig, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Earwig, Thrill Jockey and 482 Music. And don't forget the fabled labels of the past: Argo, Aristocrat, Beehive, Black Patti, Bluebird, Cadet, Chess, Checker, Cobra, Curtom, Ebony, El Saturn, Mercury, Nessa, Premonition and Vee Jay have all contributed to Chicago's musical legacy, providing income, public platforms and a degree of prestige to a historic swathe of musicians, as well as outlets necessary for the documentation their works.

Each of these imprints have been directed by savvy devotees typically operating at some financial risk. Each label has embodied its own musical niche and stylistic approach – although some aficionados may recognize their productions by sound quality alone.

Broadly speaking (and again, starting alphabetically), Alligator has sustained and nurtured the guitar-driven, glossy and gutsy urban blues sound – dubbed "houserockin' music" – since its emergence in 1971. Recent examples include 's Uncivil War, and The Big Sound of Lil Ed and the Blues Imperials. Bruce Iglauer, label president, had learned about record production working with of Delmark Records (established in 1958), who released breakthrough albums by Junior Wells and Magic Sam, acoustic country blues, barrelhouse piano and, as part of an eclectic catalog of traditional, mainstream and avant-garde jazz, the first works of members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.

In 2018, Delmark was sold to Julia A. Miller and Elbio Barilari, musicians and college professors who have re- energized its output and expanded with new artists such as Mexican-Chicagoan pianist Javier Red as well as veterans like 93-year-old singer-songwriter-guitarist Jimmy Johnson, whose 2019 album Everyday of Your Life may be his masterpiece.

BluJazz, run by Greg Pasenko, has a different business model, offering a panoply of design, pressing, packaging, promotion and distribution services to musicians without licensing their "intellectual property," so projects can appear under the artists' own imprints, and those issued with the label's imprimatur are exceptionally diverse. Southport Records, founded in 1977 by pianist Bradley Parker-Sparrow and singer Joanie Pallatto, has also specialized in producing of what they call "Real Jazz Made in Chicago," often highlighting players, bandleaders and composers who might otherwise go unheard. It also collaborates closely with self-producers such as singer Josie Falbo on her recent You Must Believe In Spring with a jazz orchestra (disclosure: I wrote the liner notes. Belief: she's got a beautiful voice and the arrangements are outstanding).

International Anthem, co-founded by Scottie McNiece and David Allen in 2014, has quickly raised the profiles of continued on page 6

JAZZ IN CHICAGO JANUARY 2021 6

continued from page 5 innovative Chicago jazz millennials including Makaya McCraven, Angel Bat Dawid, Jaimie Branch, Damon Locks and Junius Paul. At the other end of the musical spectrum, The Sirens Records, devoted to ", Boogie Woogie, Jazz and Gospel Music" and launched in 2001 by Steven Dollins, has focused on elders exemplifying our historic legacy, such as pianist Erwin Helfer, organist Chris Foreman, and Chicago gospel keyboard masters seldom presented in secular contexts.

All Chicago labels' productions I've heard strive for originality, creativity and authenticity. Chicago record labels are practical, economically run, media-conscious but not flagrantly commercial. The albums they put out typically ignore industry trends in favor of personal aesthetics and inspirations, like Chicago musicians, who harbor their own ambitions even if they're distant from the coastal cities that over the past half-century have dominated the commercial recording industry.

In the Roaring '20s, when jazz and blues recording as we know it today began, upstart labels like Okeh, Vocalion, Brunswick and Paramount established field recording offices here to take advantage of Chicago's centrality. J. Mayo Williams, legendary talent scout and producer, started the Chicago Recording Company and worked with Jelly Roll Morton, Thomas A. Dorsey, Mahalia Jackson, eventually Muddy Waters and Oscar Brown, Jr., among the stars of four decades. The current pool of creative musicians drawing on the legacies of blues, jazz, gospel and composition in all their forms seems no less rich than those masters with melodies, rhythms and harmonies to entertain, enlighten and enrich us. In 2021, Chicago has the record labels to capture and disseminate what's happening sonically all around us, as imagined by up 'n' comers and expressed by veterans, too. We're lucky that way! Hear what's coming out, buy local, enjoy how Chicago sounds! n MARK RUFFIN

BY AARON COHEN While 2020 provided a number of shocks, the year also offered one great surprise to anyone who has spent a long time in Chicago’s music scene. A few months ago, jazz radio program director Mark Ruffin released his debut book, Bebop Fairy Tales: An Historical Fiction Trilogy on Jazz, Intolerance, and Baseball (Rough In Creative Works). It’s no secret that Ruffin is a sharp and perceptive writer—before leaving this city for New York, he offered great insights on the Midwestern musical experience in Chicago newspapers and magazines, as well as for DownBeat (where I was an editor). The joy that he expressed in our numerous conversations about music always came through on the printed page. But I never expected his incredible imagination in turning images based on musician’s lives into suspenseful fiction.

These stories comprise the three parts of Bebop Fairy Tales. While the plot of each adventure stands on its own, they share interconnected themes. In each tale, jazz musicians not only prove heroic in their musical abilities, but also in showing people around them that racism is as silly as it is oppressive. Ruffin also connects these sounds to romance— whether it’s a short-term affair or lifetimes spent together. Perilous situations alternate with hilarious encounters, kind of like the tension and release in a great musical performance. continued on page 7

JAZZGRAM A monthly newsletter published by the Jazz Institute of Chicago for its members. The Jazzgram represents the views of the authors, and unless so designated, does not reflect official policy of the Jazz Institute. We welcome news and articles with differing opinions.

Managing Editor: Adriana Prieto Design: Letterform | Production: Adriana Prieto Correspondents: Aaron Cohen, Corey Hall, Ayana Contreras, Howard Mandel, Rahsaan Clark Morris, Karl E. H. Seigfried Board of Directors: President: David Helverson Vice Presidents: Timuel Black, Warren Chapman, Roxana Espoz, William Norris, Keyonn Pope Secretary: Howard Mandel Treasurers: Brian Myerholtz (Interim), Darryl Wilson Emeritus Director: Joseph B. Glossberg Executive Director: Heather Ireland Robinson Board Members: David Bloomberg, Miguel de la Cerna, Dan Epstein, Matthew Goldfine, Rajiv Halim, Jarrard Harris, Bill King, Jason Koransky, Terry Martin, Ted Oppenheimer, Bethany Pickens, Mike Reed, Kent Richmond, Judith E. Stein, Conrad Terry, Neil Tesser Staff: Diane Chandler-Marshall, John Foster-Brooks, Mashaune Hardy, Meggy Huynh, Sheila Hobson, Michael Nearpass, Adriana Prieto, Raymond A. Thomas.

Founded in 1969, the Jazz Institute of Chicago, a not-for-profit corporation, promotes and nurtures jazz in Chicago by providing jazz education, developing and supporting musicians, building Chicago audiences and fostering a thriving jazz scene. 410 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 500, Chicago IL 60605 | 312-427-1676 • Fax: 312-427-1684 • JazzInChicago.org The Jazz Institute of Chicago is supported in part by The Alphawood Foundation | The Francis Beidler Foundation | The Chicago Community Trust | A CityArts grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events | Crown Family Philanthropies | The Philip Darling Foundation | The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation | The Arts Council Agency | Lloyd A. Fry Foundation | The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at Prince | The National Endowment for the Arts | The Oppenheimer Family Foundation | The Polk Bros. Foundation | The Benjamin Rosenthal Foundation | Wells Fargo Foundation

JAZZ IN CHICAGO JANUARY 2021 7

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The first story, “The Saturday Night Fish Fry,” imagines what would have happened if choreographer Bob Fosse (on leave from the U.S. Navy) met saxophonist Gene “Jug” Ammons (on a break from Billy Eckstine’s band) in 1940s New Orleans. A lot happens during that weekend. Being the Crescent City, mysterious witchcraft abounds as does the magic of playing and dancing to jazz, which cuts across social strata. That both Fosse and Ammons had Chicago roots becomes another connection and includes a memory that the saxophonist had that reflected what he learned in his hometown: “Jug was always perceptive with people and he could read his current boss like one of those beginner’s music charts Dr. Dyett used to give him back in DuSable High.”

From New Orleans, Ruffin shifts focus to another Southern encounter in “’Round Midnight With The Ku Klux Klan.” For Rufus Gardner, a Mississippi banker, a 1957 business trip to Manhattan and Thelonious Monk concert leads to a life-changing weekend. A romantic encounter with a writer named Jimmy (undoubtedly, James Baldwin) makes him realize his own identity and the culture he wants to follow. This meant fleeing Mississippi on a night when the Klan sets out to murder him. Monk’s music is on his mind as he devises his daring escape.

Ruffin concludes the book with the gentler, but still exciting “The Sidewinder.” This story imagines a young white violinist, Shawn Berg, who finds himself in a black neighborhood in 1964 Philadelphia where he happens to see Lee Morgan rehearsing this story’s title in a front yard. An initial altercation leads to revelations shaped by that musical memory. All of which build on the author’s main point throughout this great book: No divisions are stronger than the power of jazz.n EDUCATION CORNER JAZZ LINKS VIRTUAL JAM SESSION - MARCUS EVANS

The Jazz Links Virtual Jam Sessions continue this January 13th with drummer Marcus Evans. In this month’s video, Marcus will continue his discussion on drum set playing in a series he’s calling Playing the Beat - The Art of Brushes. Check out the video for tips on how to move beyond simply keeping time while using brushes on the kit and for recommendations on drummers to check out.

Taught by the Jazz Links house band members, the Jazz Links Virtual Jam Session video series is ideal for beginners of all ages who want to develop their musical proficiency and apply it to their practice routine. The videos are released at 5pm on the second Wednesday of each month and can be viewed on our Facebook, YouTube & Instagram pages. JAZZ LINKS STUDENT COUNCIL

The Jazz Links Student Council is still accepting new applicants. Created in 2005, the Jazz Links Student Council (JLSC) gives high school jazz musicians the opportunity to develop musically and professionally through exposure to live music, workshops with professional musicians, and performance opportunities throughout the city. In addition, JLSC members have participated in master classes at Columbia College, produced a CD, and are mentored in the business of music by veteran jazz artists. While the Jazz Institute of Chicago will not be hosting in person events during the current pandemic, the Student Council will continue to meet in a virtual format. Meetings generally take place monthly on Friday evenings during the academic year. Participation in Student Council also provides access for students to take part in the NextGenJazz Emerging Artists Project, which provides students with the guidance and resources to begin leading their own groups in a real-world professional setting. Students wishing to join the Student Council are required to submit an application that can be accessed on our website (www.jazzinchicago.org)