Sep 22, 2026 12:26 PM
Hyde Park Jazz Fest on Chicago’s South Side to Present 20th Edition
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will take place for the 20th time on the final weekend of September 2026. Beginning half…
Dr. Billy Taylor, Artistic Director for Jazz at the Kennedy Center, invited the late, great jazz singer Betty Carter to bring her Jazz Ahead program to the Center in 1998. Twenty-nine young artists were selected for the twelfth annual residency by audition application that considered both composition and performance skills. The panel of judges included jazz artists Nathan Davis, Carmen Lundy, Winard Harper, and Curtis Fuller. 2009’s group of participants includes emerging musicians from across the U.S., Australia, and Israel.
Participants include:
Trumpeters: Matthew Jodrell, Wayne Tucker
Trombonists: James Burton III, Melissa Jean
Saxophonists: Caleb Curtis, Steve Lambert, Peter Reardon-Anderson, Will Reardon-Anderson
Guitarists: Larry Brown Jr., Graham Keir
Vocalists: Sarah Charles, Jennifer Ledesna, Lena Seikaly, Sonia Szajnberg
Vibraphonists: Behn Gillece, Benjamin Portner
Hammond B-3 Organist: Eli Sundelson
Pianists: Roy Assaf, Nicolas Hetko, Eric Hirsh, Ben Markley
Bassists: Adam Cote, Kevin Hsieh, Benjamin Leifer, Marcos Varela
Drummers: John Lumpkin, Jimmy Macbride, Jesse Simpson, Clif Wallace II
The Kennedy Center also invites young jazz artists in their teens through their late 20s to apply for the Kennedy Center’s 13th Annual Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead residency project, March 15-26, 2010. The deadline for the receipt of applications is November 20, 2009. Serious jazz musicians are invited to apply. Eligible candidates must be both composers and performers, proficient in English, and under the age of 30. Each applicant must submit a résumé and an audio recording of his/her own work. A panel of jazz artists, selected by the Kennedy Center, will review applications. The Kennedy Center will provide the residency participants with housing, travel to and from Washington, D.C., and modest honoraria for meal expenses. Alumni who have previously participated in two residencies are ineligible to apply.
Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead application information is available at http://kennedy-center.org/
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Sep 22, 2026 12:26 PM
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will take place for the 20th time on the final weekend of September 2026. Beginning half…
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