Jazzy tunes and crowds of all ages filled the auditoriums of the Chicago Cultural Center as the Jazz Institute of Chicago’s Winter Jazz Fair made its long-awaited return Friday.
After a 10-year hiatus, executive director Heather Ireland Robinson said she and the community decided it was time to bring back the free fair.
“It really is a celebration of the Chicago jazz community,” Robinson said.
The fair, held all day Friday, brought in diverse crowds, and Robinson estimated about 700 people stopped in throughout the day. It showcased nine hours of music from more than 10 Chicago-based performance groups, educational panel discussions and local vendors.
John Foster, managing director of programs and education initiatives, said he was “really stoked” to see so many people showing up and enjoying the music.
“This whole day is, in my eyes, almost like a big family reunion, like a community gathering,” he said.
Though the audience skewed toward listeners of a certain age, elementary and high school students were also jamming. Peter Tearse, music teacher at McCutcheon Elementary School, connected his school with the institute, six years after interning there himself and seeing “behind the scenes” of how the organization worked with Chicago Public Schools.
Tearse brought 22 students from McCutcheon’s after-school band program, which he directs, to the fair. He called it a great opportunity for the children.
“It’s been really fun being on the other end of it now and actually seeing my students be involved,” Tearse said. “I know how important this music is to kids not only socially and developmentally, but also just as a way to express themselves and have fun in music. Seeing my kids have a great time was a great validation.”
During a performance by Let Freedom Swing, a program that brings jazz artists to schools across Chicago, band leader Pharez Whitted invited all of the students to the stage to dance and “doo wop.”
Jules Davis, 11, said he was happy to go on stage.
“It was fun for me because I got to hit my dougie [dance] and I got to sing,” he said. Jules added that he likes jazz because “it’s smooth and it makes you go to sleep easy.”
Whitted said the performance was “wonderful.”
“I had a great time. Folks are usually kind of apprehensive about getting involved,” he said. “But once they see what’s going on and how much fun people have in the interaction, they sort of warm up to it.”
Frank Rose, 62, from Rogers Park, stopped at the fair Friday afternoon after learning about it from social media. As a self-described amateur jazz musician, Rose said he was excited about the event and hopes it will be an annual routine for him.
What he loves most about jazz is how communal it is, but he said he was also glad to see the educational component of the fair.
“I just love the fact that we’re still teaching jazz. For a lot of people, it’s not in the daily conversation, or people see it as old person’s music, he said. “[But] there are kids, you know, 14-, 15-, 16-years-old, that are still playing this stuff.”
Robinson said the fair highlighted several of the institute’s educational programs, including Let Freedom Swing and Jazz Links Jam Sessions, a monthly event that invites students from 9 to 19 to practice and perform together.
Many of the performers also have origin stories with the institute, like Jazz Links Jam Sessions alumni Carmani Edwards, who played bass for her trio, and another ensemble of Jazz Links students.
The jazz institute’s community focus guided the event, as alumni, up-and-coming students and established musicians came together Friday.
“This program, and a lot of things that we do at the institute, are really for the city,” Foster said. “I really feel like this, this music is associated a lot with family gathering and love.”
