Named by Chicago Magazine as the 2011 Best Neighborhood Music Festival, the 6th annual event will continue to be on the Midway on the University of Chicago campus and in the many creative and unexpected, indoor and outdoor venues throughout the Hyde Park neighborhood.

Kate says, “I am honored to join the 2012 Hyde Park Jazz Festival team. It is rare to encounter the kind of organic, deeply co-creative collaboration that exists at the core of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival. Innovative energy and imagination have been at the center of everything the festival has created in the last five years; I can’t wait to participate in exploring the possibilities in whatever bubbles up next with this remarkable group.”

The complete 2012 line up is still in the works, yet this is a taste of all of the great music being planned for 6th annual Jazz Fest:

Dee Alexander
Dee Alexander is one of Chicago’s most gifted and respected female vocalist/songwriters. Her talents span every music genre, from gospel to R&B, from blues to neo-soul. Yet her true heart and soul are experienced in their purest form through her performance of jazz music. From a soft, sultry traditional ballad, to a contemporary jazz-funk groove; from a high flying swing, to a scat-filled romp, Dee Alexander delivers each style with a passion and love of music that comes across in each and every note, and with a style and grace that is truly her own.

Victor Goines
Clarinetist, saxophonist, and educator Victor L. Goines has been a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Wynton Marsalis Septet since 1993. With these legendary ensembles he has toured worldwide and has performed on more than 20 releases, including Marsalis’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Blood on the Fields (Columbia Records), Jazz at Lincoln Center’s CongoSquare (JALC) and the soundtracks for Ken Burns’ documentaries JAZZ, Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, and The War. Goines is also a gifted composer and an acclaimed solo artist and leads his own quartet and quintet. Among the many noted jazz and popular artists with whom he has collaborated are Terence Blanchard, Ruth Brown, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, Bob Dylan, Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Green, Lionel Hampton, Freddie Hubbard, B.B. King, Lenny Kravitz, Branford Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis, James Moody, Dianne Reeves, Marcus Roberts, Diana Ross, and Stevie Wonder.

Wycliffe Gordon
Wycliffe Gordon has solidified a place in musical history as one of the top trombonists of his generation. The Jazz Journalists Association has named him Trombonist of the Year six times in the last ten years, and he tours regularly, leading the Wycliffe Gordon Quartet. He is a former member of the Wynton Marsalis Septet and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and has also been a featured guest artist on Billy Taylor’s “Jazz at the Kennedy Center” series. Gordon currently serves on the faculty of the Jazz Arts Program at Manhattan School of Music. His work with young musicians from elementary schools to universities worldwide includes master classes, clinics, workshops, and lectures. In September Gordon released Hello Pops! a tribute album to Louis Armstrong, Gordon’s favorite artist and a significant musical influence.

Jeff Parker
Guitarist Jeff Parker is one of Chicago’s most visible and versatile musicians, appearing on over 75 recordings with artists from across the musical spectrum. Best known these days through his work in the experimental-rock ensemble Tortoise, Mr. Parker co-founded the Chicago Underground Trio, the critically acclaimed mélange of hard bop, free jazz, and non-jazz forms, and has also worked with saxophonist Joshua Redman, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, drummer Brian Blade, and the late Chicago saxophonist Fred Anderson. Downbeat named Mr. Parker one of its “25 For the Future,” and in 2008 the Chicago Reader voted him “Jazz Soloist Of The Year.”

Tomeka Reid
Cellist Tomeka Reid is a sought after freelance musician in the Chicago metropolitan area. She consistently strives to expand her music palette to include other musical styles and performance techniques. Originally from Washington, DC, Tomeka moved to where she has been teaching, composing, and performing with the AACM’s Great Black Music Ensemble, Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth Ensemble/Strings, Mike Reed’s Loose Assembly, Dee Alexander’s Evolution Ensemble, Chicago Sinfonietta and the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic. Tomeka also co-directs the String Orchestra program at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools.

The list, which mixes all the standard favorites with a diverse mash-up of museums, concert halls, theaters, and restaurants many may have yet to visit or even be aware of. Rounding out the list was the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, which will celebrate its sixth year this upcoming September 29th and 30th. With so much to see, hear, and do each and every day in Chicago, the Hyde Park Jazz Festival is proud to be a part of this truly Chicagoan list.

In performances the Court Theatre stole the show.  This year the Court earned prestigious Jeff Awards for Director Charles Newell and Music Director Doug Peck in the “Large Musical” category for their new look at “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess.”  Chris Jones, theater critic for the Chicago Tribune included An Iliad as one of the top 10 best shows of 2011.  And TimeOut Chicago featured both shows in their 2011 top 10 list.

The “best art exhibit in the last year or so” according to New City was at The Renaissance Society for their showcase of William J. O’Brien’s ceramic and assemblage heads.  New City sited O’Brien as one of Chicago’s best emerging artists, and “the Renaissance Society gave him the space to prove it.”

Other Culture Coast museums took center stage this year.  The Museum of Science and Industry’s new, permanent exhibition, Science Storms is the recipient of 16 national and international awards including the top exhibit honor from the American Association of Museums.  And the Oriental Institute’s recent special exhibition, Before the Pyramids was recognized by the Chicago Reader as the “Best Museum Exhibit of 2011”.

Two of the best achievements in architecture this year, according to the Chicago Tribune’s Blair Kamin, are on the University of Chicago campus.  Kamin describes Helmut Jahn’s Joe and Rika Mansueto Library as “a steel-and-glass elliptical dome sheltering a spectacular reading room that is enlivened by natural light and views of the neo-Gothic campus … and an ingenious solution to the U. of C.’s decision to keep books on campus instead of moving them off-site, as other universities have done.”  Kamin also highlights the “Light Sabers” the university installed as a major streetscape upgrade, “designed by New York artist James Carpenter, to break down the Midway’s vast scale and are far more appealing to the eye than conventional street lights.”

And Chicago Magazine named the Hyde Park Jazz Festival the Best Neighborhood Music Festival in Chicago, saying “this precocious five-year-old festival swings like mad.” And it will again on September 29 and 30, 2012.

Capping off this year of bests was Hyde Park’s fine French restaurant, La Petite Folie, receiving the Bib Gourmand Restaurant rating from the Michelin Chicago Guide.

Please share your “best” experiences in the arts and cultural organizations of the Chicago Culture Coast on our Facebook page.

When looking for things to do in Hyde Park in Chicago, there’s no shortage of parks, museums, galleries, information centers, architectural sites, education centers, religious institutions, and more. Taking a walk through Hyde Park will expose Chicagoans and tourists alike to the vast array of things to see and do, as well as the chance to admire the elegant houses and apartments that have lined the shaded streets for more than a century. Concierge Preferred is the tourist’s and visitor’s guide to enjoying all that Hyde Park has to offer, as well as the surrounding areas that are all within walking distance.

Architectural Sites — Visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House and the University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, along with the rest of UChicago’s impressive quad area.

Restaurants — Hyde Park features restaurants sure to suit all palates. Internationally inspired restaurants range from the French cuisine of La Petite Folie, the jazz-inspired Park 52, to the Asian fusion Chant, Italian Piccolo Mondo, and Middle Eastern comfort food of The Nile to the Caribbean-Cajun Calypso Café. Hyde Park also offers more traditional Chicago fare at the Valois, Jimmy’s Woodlawn Tap, and Medici on 57th Street. Hyde Park has it all.

Educational Institutions — Most of the Hyde Park area is owned by The University of Chicago, which only adds to its superior culture and diversity. The university is responsible for bringing the Smart Museum, Renaissance Society, and Court Theatre to the area. At Stagg Field, academic achievement is also commemorated Henry Moore’s sculpture “Nuclear Energy” commemorating the world’s first nuclear chain-reaction.

Parks — Enjoy strolling through Hyde Park’s scenic Midway Plaisance (home to the 1893 World’s Fair), Jackson Park, or Washington Park.

Museums — One of the best aspects of Hyde Park is the art and culture it brings to Chicago. Hyde Park is the home to a plethora of museums such as the DuSable Museum of African American History, the Museum of Science and Industry, and the Oriental Institute.

Bookstores & Libraries — Of course, a cultural center like Hyde Park is home to a dynamic literary community. Hyde Park boasts the University of Chicago Regenstein Library, as well as new, used, and independent bookstores like Powell’s Book Store and O’Gara and Wilson Ltd., Chicago’s oldest used book store.

Barack Obama’s Home — Even though it may be difficult to get too close due to security, Hyde Park is also right by President Barack Obama’s Kenwood home.

There is so much to do and see in Hyde Park that it’s practically its own cultural center within the cultural center of Chicago itself. Find out everything there is to do in Hyde Park with the help of Concierge Preferred. Tourists and Chicagoans alike can find out about the best that’s going on in Chicago through Concierge Preferred online, the city’s guide to everything in and around the Chicagoland area.

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of joining the Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture for the last of their 2011 series of “Get Up and Go” Insider Tours – guided tours of Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods. For this tour, we traveled from the loop down Lake Shore Drive to Hyde Park, home of the 5th Annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival, led by Rebecca Janowitz, author of the book Culture of Opportunity: Obama’s Chicago – the People, Politics and Ideas of Hyde Park and a resident Hyde Parker.

The afternoon began with a talk with Rebecca in the reading room of the Chicago Cultural Center. She started with the neighborhood’s history – originally envisioned as a refuge from the city proper, the neighborhood eventually merged with Chicago but remained a beautiful location, chock full of parks, architecture, and great restaurants. The University of Chicago and the World’s Fair both found a home in Hyde Park in the late 19th century, and brought new light to the area as an epicenter of knowledge and culture. Hyde Park is also the most racially diverse neighborhood in the city. In the early 40s and 50s, when most of the city was enforcing restrictive housing laws, most Hyde Parkers happily welcomed African-Americans into their community. Black politicians forged alliances with white Hyde Park leaders, creating a legacy of diversity that makes Hyde Park a perfect place for the Jazz Fest.

Ms. Janowitz then told tour-goers some exciting things to do and see in Hyde Park – places which you might want to check out while you’re visiting this weekend for the Fest. Hyde Park is a neighborhood of thinkers and readers – Janowitz joked, “Everyone in Hyde Park has written a book” – and, consequently it’s home to a number of great independent bookstores, where the employees are well-versed in literature. Powell’s, O’Gara and Wilson, The Seminary Co-Op, and 57th Street Books all have huge selections of both used and new books. There are a number of great restaurants; Janowitz recommends Valois, a diner which ranks among Obama’s favorites, Rajun Cajun, Chicago’s only cajun-indian restaurant with great vegetarian options, and the Medici, a pizzeria frequented by UChicago students.

Hyde Park itself is also gorgeous. There is beautiful architecture, including the famous Robie House, a Jazz Fest location, and the Heller House, both designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. There is also an abundance of parks. Hyde Parkers love taking long walks down to the lakefront on the East, through a park called the Point, which also offers a beautiful view of the Chicago skyline.

When we step off the 6 Bus in Hyde Park, we’re already excited. It’s a beautiful, sunny day with a perfect breeze, and Hyde Park is at its most beautiful, with green foliage everywhere. We walk down 53rd street, passing by Valois and Rajun Cajun. We turn south at Kenwood Avenue, and cross through Nichols Park, one of the neighborhood’s many great outdoor relaxation areas. When we reach 57th street, we turn east, towards the lake, and pass a number of great independent bookstores, finally ending up in the maze of well-stocked shelves that is Powell’s Bookstore. We are all excited to continue to explore Hyde Park.

Find all the information on how to get to the Jazz Fest and where to park for free, the route for the free Jazz Fest bus, the full line up of performances, the schedule for the family tent programming, how to reserve the best seats in the house (hint: Jazz Pass) and so much more on the Jazz Fest web site and Facebook page. SEE YOU THIS WEEKEND AT THE HYDE PARK JAZZ FEST.

Another way to get involved is by volunteering.  There are so many arts and cultural organizations that would welcome your help.  Whatever your skill set is – you can offer your services based on your time schedule and you will find new friends, interests and the satisfaction that comes from getting involved in the arts.  Make this the year that you become a docent, an usher, help in the office, or anything else that interests you.  Just click on most of the HyPa member organizations and you will find a volunteer or “get involved” button.

Speaking of volunteering, please consider signing up today to help out at the 5^th annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival coming up September 24 and 25.  There are so many different areas that we need your help including greeters, ushers, set up, info booths, data entry, drivers … and the list goes on.  We are expecting almost 400 volunteers this year.  The best way to enjoy the festival is to be part of it.  Go ahead and sign up here.  We can promise you it will be fun, you will make new friends and you will receive a free t-shirt.

Whatever you decide to do this fall we hope you will find a way to get involved with the Arts and Culture of Chicago’s Culture Coast.

This open studio exhibition will be part of over 200 CAM events, ranging from exhibitions to neighborhood art walks presented by museums, galleries, cultural centers, artist collaboratives, and other organizations throughout the city.  Proposals are currently being accepted by HyPa from artists or artist groups that would like work with the community in developing a temporary public art project.

Proposals are due by Monday, August 15^th 2011, 5:00 PM.  Please review the Request For Proposal.  Updates to this and all HyPa related events will be posted on our HyPa Facebook Page so please be sure to Like Us and let us know if you have any questions.

Those looking to retrace the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago would do well to look into  ”The White City… Then and Now” tour, which explores the former sites of the fair, and is offered by the Museum of Science and Industry. If you want to explore the neighborhood, check out the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s walking tours of Hyde Park on August 7th and September 11th, and Kenwood’s 15-square block historic district on September 24th and October 15th. A number of tours kick off at the Hyde Park Art Center, including “Bobby’s Bike Hike: Historical Hyde Park Tour,” and the FREE “Hyde Park Instagreeter Tour,” both available on weekends throughout the summer.

On July 16th and September 24th, you can also take a bus ride with “Hyde Park & Kenwood: Chicago Neighborhood Tours,” which departs from the Chicago Cultural Center. Also, don’t miss out on the Family Adventures Tours, offered by the City in partnership with HyPa, the Hyde Park Alliance for Arts and Culture! Family Adventures offers a neighborhood tour of Hyde Park with plenty to see for parents and kids, alike. Tours will be held on July 23^rd and August 5^th Find your creative side in a tour and art-making activity at the Hyde Park Art Center (July 23) or visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House (August 5) and participate in an art glass workshop. Lunch in a nearby park and a jam session with Marsha’s Music round out the day. The Family Adventure to Jackson Park explores nature through a tour of Osaka Garden. Tickets can be found here. And if you are looking to explore the South Side beyond Hyde Park’s borders, Family Adventures also offers a “Bridgeport/IIT” tour that takes you to Cellular Field and IIT’s Bronzeville campus. Check out these tours, as well as others, such as the “Restoring Bronzeville Tour,” offered by the Bronzeville Visitor Information Center.

Chicago Trolley & Double Decker Co. offers “Hop On, Hop Off” tours and has expanded their South Neighborhoods Tour featuring the Museum of Science and Industry to include a stop at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House and a chance to explore the surrounding area, suggesting such arts and cultural gems as the Oriental Institute Museum, Smart Museum, and the University of Chicago campus.  When it’s time to eat, take your pick—options range from pizza to Thai to Middle Eastern and beyond, and don’t miss the hub of great independent bookstores on 57th Street between Harper and Kimbark. Chicago Trolley & Double Decker Co.’s Explore Chicago Tour combines this South Neighborhoods Tour with two more neighborhoods and highlights of downtown Chicago.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House offers tours frequently throughout the summer as well. And for jazz fans out there that can’t wait for the Hyde Park Jazz Festival the last weekend in September, you can venture out into the city and check out “Our Chicago Sound: Jazz, Blues and Beyond” at Chicago Detours. More information about tours around Hyde Park and Chicago is available at Explore Chicago Tours.

By bus, bike, or foot – Make this the summer to explore the Culture Coast!