HYDE PARK — The Hyde Park Jazz Festival is opening up this week’s rehearsal sessions to the public as musicians prepare for the festival this weekend.
The open rehearsals will be from 2-6 p.m. Wednesday and Friday in the Cassidy Theater at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.
The festival every year commissions a new work to premiere at the festival.
This year, the festival has asked flutist Nicole Mitchell and her Black Earth Ensemble to write a new piece of music in collaboration with kora player Ballake Sissoko, balafon player Fassery and vocalist Fatim Kouyate.
The new work will be played at 3 and 5:45 p.m. at the Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St.
The festival as a whole will find ways to pay tribute to pianist and composer Thelonius Monk, who would have turned 100 years old this year, with performances on 13 stages across Hyde Park on Saturday and Sunday.
The full schedule includes:
Saturday
Wagner Stage, Midway Plaisance
• 1:30-2:30 p.m.: Makaya McCraven Group
• 3:45-4:45 p.m.: Ari Brown Quartet featuring David Murray
• 6:15-7:15 p.m.: Dee Alexander: Monk and the Ladies
• 8:30-9:30 p.m.: Jeremy Pelt Quintet
West Stage, Midway Plaisance
• 2:30-3:30 p.m.: Ifficial Reggae Movement
• 5-6 p.m.: Chicago AfroBeat Project
• 7:15-8:15 p.m.: Majestic Gents and The NuBlu Band: Chicago Steppin'
• 9:30-10:30 p.m.: DJ Sadie Woods
Logan Center for the Arts, performance hall
• 3-4 p.m. and 5:45-6:45 p.m.: Nicole Mitchell and Ballake Sissoko: Bamako Chicago Sound System
• 7:15-8:15 p.m.: Geof Bradfield's Yes and Music for Nine Improvisers
• 9:30-10:30 p.m.: Willie and Bethany Pickens plus Friends
Logan Center for the Arts, penthouse
• 4-5 p.m.: Grazyna Auguscik Group
• 6:30-7:30 p.m.: Ben Goldberg: Learned From Thelonious Monk (solo)
Logan Center for the Arts, screening room
• 2:30-3:30 p.m.: Robin D. G. Kelley: Monk at 100 (lecture)
• 4-5 p.m.: Wall of Respect 50th Anniversary (panel discussion)
DuSable Museum
• 3-4 p.m.: Dana Hall's Inner Dialogue: Sound and Semiosis (solo percussion and more)
• 4:30-5:30 p.m.: Nick Mazzarella, Tomeka Reid Duo
Smart Museum
• 1-2 p.m.: Jaimie Branch's Fly or Die
• 2:30-3:30 p.m.: Katie Ernst: Twin Talk
International House
• 7:15-8:15 p.m.: Double Monk: Jeremy Kahn & Steve Million with Ariane Dolan
• 9:30-10:30 p.m.: Andrew Cyrille and Bill McHenry
Hyde Park Bank
• 4-5 p.m.: Julius Tucker Trio
• 5:30-6:30 p.m.: Dida Pelled Trio
Oriental Institute
• 2:30-3:30 p.m.: Marlene Rosenberg, Scott Hesse: Duology
Little Black Pearl
• 3-4 p.m.: Xavier Breaker and the Coalition
• 4:30-5:30 p.m.: Alexis Lombre Quartet
Hyde Park Union Church
• 3-4 p.m.: Isaiah Collier and the Chosen Few
• 5-6 p.m.: Amina Claudine Myers (solo)
Rockefeller Chapel
• 11 p.m.-midnight: Joe Locke, Warren Wolf Duo
Sunday
Wagner Stage, Midway Plaisance
• 2-3 p.m.: Maggie and Africa Brown: 2 Brown Sisters Swingin' Hyde Park
• 4-5 p.m.: Henry Johnson Quintet
• 6-7 p.m.: Yes We Can: The Songs of New Orleans
West Stage, Midway Plaisance
• 3-4 p.m.: Fat Babies
• 5-6 p.m.: CALJE
For more information, visit the festival's website.
