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…
Born in Washington, D.C., in May 1934, from the age of 4 her early piano training consisted of the European classics and she also digested the pianisms and vocal phrasing of Nat "King" Cole. She was accepted to Juilliard, but lacked the funds to attend and later studied at Howard University.
She led one of her first combos in 1954, and a few years later Miles Davis heard her and brought her to New York's Village Vanguard to rave reviews. She subsequently released a number of albums on the ABC-Paramount and Mercury labels including Travelin' Light and Horn With Horns, which was produced by Quincy Jones. Citing the wish to raise her daughter properly, Horn retreated from a heavy music career, opting to play gigs close to home and record primarily for the European-based Steeplechase label.
In 1987, she rejuvenated her career by signing with Verve records and released the live date I Thought About You. Her other standout recordings for the label include: You Won't Forget Me, an all-star date featuring Wynton and Branford Marsalis and Miles Davis in one of his last sessions; and the Johnny Mandel-orchestrated classic Here's To Life.
Ron Goldstein, President & CEO of the Verve Music Group, said, "Shirley Horn was a true innovator. She created a unique style of playing and singing that was not only original, but so penetrating and so much her own that few dared try to copy it."
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…
