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…
Matthew Shipp (left) and Ivo Perelman perform at the Chicago Jazz Festival in August along with William Parker and Bobby Kapp.
(Photo: Mark Sheldon)IP: I understand what you’re saying, but personally, I was for a while devoted to painting. Right now, I’m experiencing a growth period that I absolutely have to investigate. The only way to do it is to go through the process: record, listen, release, mature the process. So, I still have a lot—be ready. My plan is to do a 365-CD box and document every day.
While that’s fascinating from an art perspective, the market for that is 17 people.
IP: Someone the other day told Matthew he was ruining his career, recording so much. I told him, this isn’t a career, this is a mission. I don’t register this as a valid point of view.
MS: He’s insane.
Are you both thinking about legacy at this point?
MS: I’ll be 58 soon. Parker was dead when he was 34. Coltrane was dead when he was 40. Bruce Lee was dead when he was 32. And those are people who did a lot in a short amount of time. Other than Albert Ayler, some people in the avant-garde did live long lives—Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor. You can’t take that for granted, and you do start thinking, have you done your best work? Or are you going to keep growing?
IP: Not long ago, I realized the gift of life, and how appreciative I am of being alive. I’ve had some health issues, and now I’m 100 percent. I enjoy waking up every day—and grateful for that. The way to give back is to play music the best way I can. I’m very disciplined about practice, very serious about the daily methodical approach to maintaining, learning and growing as a musician. I take it as my duty to give back to the universe the gift I was given—that’s why so many CDs. I want to say thank you many times.
MS: The other thing is, we’re here. You’re not getting tons of major festivals.
IP: I’m not getting shit.
MS: So, your life is the studio. We do tours sometimes, but we’re in a situation where the studio is a place where the music has been able to grow.
IP: It’s a monastic life; I like that. DB
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.”
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Editor’s Note: Tomorrow, Sept. 23, is the 100th anniversary of John Coltrane’s birth. In honor of the tenor and…
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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.
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It began in 2001. A travel agent named Anita E. Berry had been booking clients on “partial” jazz cruises that took…
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The 2027 DownBeat College Guide is an invaluable resource for music students, especially jazz students, to find a school…
