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Concert Sun Aug 24 2008
Blue Notes from the Bandshell
Labor Day weekend is upon us and that can only mean one thing -- the close of the city's music festival season with the 2008 Chicago Jazz Festival in Millennium Park. And this year's CJF schedule showcases an especially solid line-up.
The Festival kicks off Thursday evening at the Pritzker Pavilion with a keynote performance by the venerable Sonny Rollins. Other headlining acts for this year include Latin jazz master Eddie Palmieri, Gerald ("Viva Tirado") Wilson and his Orchestra, and free-jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman.
Some other noteworthy attractions on this year's billing are appearances by the AACM-/Tortoise-affiliated ensemble Isotope 217, a tribute to the legacy of the AACM as led by Roscoe Mitchell and Wadada Leo Smith, vocalist Dee Alexander joining up with Eight Bold Souls, plus a performance and composer's talk by pianist Vijay Iyer (who's debuting a specially-commissioned piece for the Festival).
Those, however, are only some of the highlights. If you've yet to see the full schedule, you might want to avoid any of the City org's clunky and byzantine sites and instead dial up the Jazz Institute of Chicago page for the most compact and comprehensive listing. Or just click here.