Arts & Entertainment
Englewood Jazz Festival to Pay Tribute to Jazz Greats, Celebrate the Next Generation of Musicians
Saxophonist and Englewood Jazz Festival founder Ernest Dawkins, right, performs during the festival. Since starting the festival, Dawkins said there’s been an increase in arts and cultural programming in the neighborhood. “It's been instrumental in reawakening the artistic renaissance in the community,” Dawkins said. (Courtesy of Englewood Jazz Festival)
Saxophonist and Englewood Jazz Festival founder Ernest Dawkins wants people who attend the festival to be assured: “The music is in good hands and the legacy continues.”
It's in that spirit that the festival will make its return to Hamilton Park from Thursday to Saturday.
The 27th annual festival will feature performances honoring the legacies of Oscar Brown Jr., John Coltrane and Miles Davis while also celebrating the next generation of musicians.
“The Englewood Jazz Festival has always been about bringing people together through original music, honoring the masters who came before us while creating space for the next generation to find its own voice,” Dawkins said in a statement. “As we celebrate 27 years, we’re excited to welcome our community for a weekend that reflects the creativity, resilience, and collective spirit that make Chicago one of the great jazz cities in the world.”
The festival comprises nine sets across three days, with performances happening indoors and outdoors.
The festival is free to attend. Some seating will be provided, but attendees are recommended to bring their own chairs, blankets and picnics, according to a news release.
Performances include Julius Tucker Trio; Live the Spirit Residency Expanded Ensemble featuring Dee Alexander; Ernest Dawkins’ New Horizons Redux; Jeremiah Hunt Quartet; the Young Masters; Ryan Bills & Ben Crino Quartet; and New Continuum Ensemble led by Marquis Hill and featuring Braxton Cook.
The festival features all original compositions. View the full schedule and lineup here.
During the final day of the festival, Dakarai Barclay Quartet will perform in celebration of Miles Davis and John Coltrane. The 2 Brown Sisters, Maggie and Africa Brown, will also perform a tribute to their father Oscar Brown Jr., the Chicago jazz singer and activist.
“Oscar Brown Jr. was in the community when I was coming up, so he was always influential,” Dawkins said. “John Coltrane and Miles Davis are always icons in music, of course. Everyone looked up to both of them.”
The Englewood Jazz Festival returns to Hamilton Park on Sept. 17-19. (Courtesy of Englewood Jazz Festival)
Dawkins is executive director of the Spirit Residency, which produces the festival and has a program for young jazz musicians to receive mentorship and opportunities to produce, perform and record their own compositions.
According to Dawkins, the mentorship program has had a hand in the careers of flautist Nicole Mitchell, saxophonist David Boykin, trumpeter Maurice Brown, trumpeter Corey Wilkes, saxophonist Isaiah Collier, pianist Alexis Lombre, bassist Micah Collier, bassist Junius Paul, drummer Isaiah Spencer, trumpeter Marquis Hill and more.
Dawkins, who grew up in Washington Park, played bass and percussion when he was young, and didn’t start playing saxophone until his late teens. Growing up, he remembers listening to his father’s extensive record collection and his father also bringing him to see jazz pianists Count Basie and Duke Ellington perform.
“I saw the passing of the old guard, in terms of all the clubs, when I was young,” Dawkins said. “I would see a lot of the old clubs on 47th Street, 43rd Street, 63rd Street, and then the Regal was still going on, so there was music all in the community. I saw all of that when I was coming up.”
Dawkins was also exposed to music he would hear from musicians practicing on his own block.
Since starting the Englewood Jazz Festival in 1999, Dawkins said there’s been an increase in arts and cultural programming in the neighborhood. “It’s been instrumental in reawakening the artistic renaissance in the community,” Dawkins said.
As part of the upcoming Englewood Jazz Festival, an annual “Spirit of Jazz” award ceremony will honor those who helped shape and strengthen jazz in the city.
Dawkins has seen more support for the festival from community members throughout the years, with some even referring to it as “South Side Ravinia,” he said. Dawkins said he would like to see more funding going toward initiatives that foster more arts in the neighborhood. He also spoke about the importance of ensuring musicians get paid and expanding the “market share” for jazz by supporting young musicians.
Dawkins hopes to see the festival become more of an institution in the years ahead as it continues to showcase the rich tradition of jazz while inspiring new generations of artists and audiences across the city.
“I knew it was gonna take us at least 20 years to get on the map,” Dawkins said. “I think we’re on the map now, and we’re on the rise.”
Contact Eunice Alpasan: [email protected]
WTTW News arts coverage is supported by the JCS Arts, Health & Education Fund of the DuPage Foundation.
