jazzandbluesnews

The Chicago Jazz Festival is a spectacular event, or so I have heard, from those who have attended.  I have never had the joy of spending an entire day at the festival as I have done with the Chicago Blues Festival.   I have only had the chance to catch a performance or two and then had to move along.

The festivals take place in Grant Park which is right in downtown Chicago, on Lake Michigan.  Not far from the huge fountain that you’ve probably seen in postcards or at the beginning of that dreadful show “Married…with Children.”  There are stages set up all over the park and there are multiple shows that often take place at the same time.  There is also food lined up all along the festival.  The greatest treat I had was eating a giant piece of watermelon during the Blues Festival, and the Jazz Festival has much the same thing.

Some of the stages are fancier than others.  Some of them require you to sit out in bleachers in the full sun.  You had better be prepared witht the sunscreen.  There are other stages where you can bring a towel or a blanket and sit underneath a tree.  Those were my particular favorites.

So, what is it like to attend?  Well, of course, there is always YouTube to find such things.  So, here it is.  Curtis Black, trumpet; Ari Seider, guitar; Corey Biggerstaff, bass; Doug Mitchell, drums.  This is from the 2008 Chicago Jazz Festival.

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