Thursday, May 03, 2007

CHICAGO JAZZ FEST 2007

Pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Charlie Haden and the Mingus Big Band will headline the 29th annual Chicago Jazz Festival, running Aug. 30 to Sept. 3."An Evening with Herbie Hancock" will open the festival with a performance Aug. 30 at Symphony Center. The music-making then will shift to Grant Park on Aug. 31, when the featured artists will include the Michele Rosewoman septet and the Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood quartet. On Sept. 1, singer Ernestine Anderson will perform with saxophonist/flutist Frank Wess; the evening will close with Haden and his Liberation Music Orchestra (Haden serves as this year's artist in residence). On Sept. 2, Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra, featuring Bill Dixon, and the Mingus Big Band will conclude the fest.

As always, three nights of performances will precede the official festival, making for a Chicago Jazz Festival week stretching from Aug. 27 to Sept. 3. Trumpeter Orbert Davis' Chicago Jazz Philharmonic will play in Millennium Park on Aug. 27. Jon Faddis, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, James Moody and others will play "A Night in Havana" tribute to Dizzy Gillespie at the Harris Theater Aug. 28. And the annual Jazz Club Tour will take visitors by bus to several venues, Aug. 29.

For more information, call the Mayor's Office of Special Events, which produces the festival, at 312-744-3315, or the Jazz Institute of Chicago, which programs it, at 312-427-1676.

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