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…
Wamble’s Bluestate (available May 10) is the sophomore effort of the guitarist/vocalist/composer who the label introduced on the 2003 disc Country Libations. Featuring Wamble's longstanding rhythm section of pianist Roy Dunlap, bassist Jeff Hanley and drummer Peter Miles, the new album documents the strides that the quartet have taken after months of touring and refining Wamble's singular amalgam of jazz, blues, gospel and country music.
“Playing night after night focused us more in a jazz direction,” Wamble says, “but, in an odd way, it brought out the other eclectic stuff as well. The disparate elements are coming together in a more cohesive way.”
Alto saxophonist/composer Zenón is another musician not content to rest on his growing laurels. After releasing Ceremonial at the start of 2004, Zenón set to work on a set of new compositions inspired by music from the rural regions of his native Puerto Rico. The result is Jíbaro (available May 24), a collection of ten pieces which have earned rave reviews as Zenón has performed them with his quartet.
“When I started to work on my own music and to develop my own sounds, I looked into Puerto Rican music,” Zenon says, “and after immersing myself in bomba and plena, I pushed further and started to address Jíbaro. At the beginning I just wanted to learn about the music, but after I learned the rules and the forms, I heard that they allowed me to apply my own ideas.'
What has resulted is brilliant playing from Zenón and his bandmates pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Hans Glawischnig and drummer Antonio Sánchez.
A solo concert by saxophonist Joshua Redman will close the first night of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival on Sept. 26.
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…
“It was just that suddenly … I could hear it,” Ravi Coltrane said of an epiphany he experienced during his late teens regarding his father’s music. “And it was almost like a calling, like something saying, ‘Hey, man, come on. It’s time to get serious.’ And the first time you really tune in and dial in and focus like that, it can be very life-changing.”
Sep 22, 2026 1:39 PM
Editor’s Note: Tomorrow, Sept. 23, is the 100th anniversary of John Coltrane’s birth. In honor of the tenor and…
Camille Thurman took to the stage alongside bassist Kenny Davis and drummer Tommy Campbell for a rendition of Johnny Mercer’s “I’m An Old Cowhand” that recalled Rollins’ epochal 1957 trio outing Way Out West.
Oct 6, 2026 1:33 PM
As emcee Mark Ruffin noted at the commencement of an epic tribute to saxophonist Sonny Rollins at the Cathedral of Saint…
Kurt Elling, Katherine Russell and Emmet Cohen (host on the 2027 Jazz Cruise) share a laugh at sea.
Sep 8, 2026 11:52 AM
It began in 2001. A travel agent named Anita E. Berry had been booking clients on “partial” jazz cruises that took…
Sep 17, 2026 11:00 AM
The 2027 DownBeat College Guide is an invaluable resource for music students, especially jazz students, to find a school…
