The Reader’s Guide to the 30th annual
All the other action is in Grant Park as well, and as always the music is free. Afternoon sets are at the Jazz on Jackson stage (on Jackson near Lake Shore Drive) and the Jazz& Heritage Stage (south of Jackson near the Rose Garden), where the programming includes family-oriented shows and concert-demonstrations. Friday through Sunday the New Orleans All-Star Brass Band—a group assembled especially for the fest from members of several Crescent City outfits, including the Pin Stripe, Paulin Brothers, and New Birth brass bands—plays two sets on Jackson between Columbus and Lake Shore Drive, one at 11 AM and the other at 4 PM. The Petrillo is at Columbus and Jackson, and after the music ends at the lakefront, there’s more on offer around town every night. —PM
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This jam brings together some very different fretboard personalities, all of whom have earned their wings with years in working bands. Jeff Parker, best known as a member of Tortoise, is an experimenter and mutator of styles, while John Moulder works within the lineage of contemporary jazz guitar—quite a lot of territory, admittedly—as a leader and in drummer Paul Wertico’s group. Curtis Robinson, who’s played with Freddy Cole and Ramsey Lewis, is the straight man; guitarist number four, Buddy Fambro, has also recorded with Lewis, as well as with rapper Skee-Lo and alt-folkie Michelle Shocked. Drummer Robert Shy and bassist Josh Abrams provide the motor. —JC
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Vocalist Alison Ruble has become a fixture at clubs like Andy’s and Pops for Champagne, and earlier this year she released her debut, This Is a Bird (Origin Music), a set of standards and jazzy pop tunes that she lights up with grace and clarity. She’s a restrained singer and prefers to stay relatively faithful to the written melodies, coloring them with subtly tweaked phrasing and careful shifts in pitch instead of taking liberties. She’s joined by her fine working band: guitarist John McLean, pianist Jo Ann Daugherty, reedist Jim Gailloreto, drummer Tim Davis, and bassist Larry Kohut. —PM
Jazz & Heritage Stage
3:30 PM “Jimmy’s Jam Session” featuring the Curtis Black Quartet plus Ahmad Salaheldeen, Edward House, and Zaid Krisberg
