NINETY-FOURTH SEASON
Friday, October 25, 2024, at 8:00
Jazz Series
DANILO PÉREZ, JOHN PATITUCCI, AND BRIAN BLADE
THE LEGACY OF WAYNE SHORTER WITH SPECIAL GUEST MARK TURNER
Danilo Pérez Piano
John Patitucci Bass
Brian Blade Drums
Mark Turner Saxophone
INTERMISSION
CHARLES LLOYD QUARTET
Charles Lloyd Saxophone and Flute
Aaron Parks Piano
Larry Grenadier Bass
Eric Harland Drums
This program will be announced from the stage.
This evening’s concert has been made possible through a generous grant from Dan J. Epstein, Judy Guitelman, and the Dan J. Epstein Family Foundation.
Funding for educational programs during the 2024–25 Season of SCP Jazz has been generously provided by Dan J. Epstein, Judith Guitelman, and the Dan J. Epstein Family Foundation.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.
Chicago Jazz, DownBeat magazine, WDCB, and WBEZ Chicago are media partners for this event.
Danilo Pérez Piano
As a solo artist and as a collaborator with jazz giants from Dizzy Gillespie to Wayne Shorter, for over three decades Grammy Award-winning Panamanian pianist and composer Danilo Pérez has been lauded as one of the most creative forces in contemporary music. With jazz as the anchoring foundation, Perez’s global jazz music is a blend of Panamanian roots, Latin American folk music, West African rhythms, European impressionism—promoting music as a borderless and multidimensional bridge between all people. Since 1993 Pérez has released twelve albums and received numerous accolades. He is a recipient of the Doris Duke Artist, USA Fellowship, and Smithsonian Legacy awards. For over two decades, Pérez was part of the Wayne Shorter Quartet. He is also the founder and artistic director of the Panama Jazz Festival and the Berklee Global Jazz Institute.
John Patitucci Bass
Acoustic and electric bassist John Patitucci has been at the forefront of the jazz world for over thirty years and active in all styles of music. He is a four-time Grammy Award winner, has been nominated over twenty times, and has played on many other Grammy Award–winning
recordings. He has performed and/or recorded with jazz giants such as Dizzy Gillespie, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Stan Getz, Freddie Hubbard, Roy Haynes, Wynton Marsalis, Michael Brecker, Kenny Garrett, Victor Feldman, Nancy Wilson, and countless others. Patitucci also has been active as a composer and commissioned to write for various chamber music groups.
Brian Blade Drums
An intensely thoughtful drummer, composer, and bandleader, Brian Blade is a holistic performer, skillfully throwing himself into myriad adventurous jazz contexts and cross-genre explorations. Emerging in the late 1990s, Blade quickly established himself as a versatile sideman, appearing on albums with Joshua Redman, Kenny Garrett, and Brad Mehldau. Along with his own work, Blade has earned Grammy awards for his playing with Wayne Shorter and as a member of the Chick Corea Trio on Trilogy. A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, Brian Blade joined saxophonist Wayne Shorter’s band in 2000 and further developed his sound, with bandmates John Patitucci and Danilo Pérez.
Mark Turner Saxophone
Saxophonist Mark Turner has emerged as a towering presence in the jazz community. With a distinctive, personal tone, singular improvisational skills, and an innovative, challenging compositional approach, he has earned a reputation as one of jazz’s most original and influential musical forces. He has released more than a dozen albums as leader and is also prolific as a sideman. He has recorded and toured with musicians as diverse as Jakob Bro, Tom Harrell, Billy Hart, Ed Simon, Enrico Rava, Kurt Rosenwinkel, David Virelles, Ethan Iverson, Baptiste Trotignon, and the SFJAZZ Collective.
Charles Lloyd Saxophone and Flute
Charles Lloyd is an NEA Jazz Master and recipient of the prestigious French honor, l’Ordre Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Lloyd started playing with Blues greats like Howlin’ Wolf and B.B. King. His mentor, pianist Phineas Newborn, brought him into his father’s band, cementing Lloyd’s path in exploring jazz music. Voted DownBeat magazine’s Jazzman of the Year in 1967, in 2024, he was honored with a rare DownBeat Critic’s Poll quadruple crown: Hall of
Fame, Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, and Saxophonist of the Year. The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow, released by Blue Note Records on Lloyd’s eighty-sixth birthday, won the prestigious Edison Prize 2024 in the Netherlands. The arc of his contribution to this art form starts in the early 1960s when he became Chico Hamilton’s music director through to his quartet with Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette, and Cecil McBee. In 1969, Lloyd stepped away from public life to a decade of seclusion in Big Sur, California. He returned to performing and recording in the late 1980s and has remained a vital and creative force in music and the arts.
Aaron Parks Piano
Pianist Aaron Parks is a forward-thinking jazz musician who came to the public’s attention during his time with trumpeter Terence Blanchard. Born in Seattle, Washington, Parks began playing piano at an early age. By sixteen, he had transferred to the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with noted pianist Kenny Barron and received awards, including the 2001 Cole Porter Fellow of the American Pianists Association. At age eighteen, he joined Blanchard’s ensemble and subsequently recorded four albums with the veteran trumpeter. Parks has released several solo albums under his own name, including Invisible Cinema (Blue Note) and Arborescence (ECM).
PHOTOS
Larry Grenadier Bass
As one of the most admired, accomplished bassists working in jazz today, Larry Grenadier has created an expansive body of work in collaboration with many of the genre’s most inventive, influential musicians—from early days with sax icons Joe Henderson and Stan Getz to decades performing alongside pianist Brad Mehldau, from extended experiences working with the likes of Paul Motian and Pat Metheny to co-leading the cooperative trio Fly (with Mark Turner and Jeff Ballard) and quartet Hudson (with John Scofield, John Medeski, and Jack DeJohnette). Grenadier is known for his instrumental virtuosity, instantly recognizable tone, and uncommon artistic sensitivity.
Eric Harland Drums Multi-Grammy Award–nominated and –winning artist Eric Harland is one of the most in-demand drummers of his generation. Harland has shared the stage with jazz legends Betty Carter, Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Michael Brecker, Terence Blanchard, Branford and Wynton Marsalis, Wayne Shorter, Savion Glover, SFJAZZ Collective, and many others. He currently performs in James Farm with Joshua Redman; Prism with Dave Holland and Kevin Eubanks; Sangam with Charles Lloyd and Zakir Hussain; the Charles Lloyd New Quartet; the Marvels with Bill Frisell, Greg Leisz, and Lucinda Williams; Overtone with Dave Holland, Jason Moran, and Chris Potter; and Voyager, Harland’s own group.
JUAN HITTERS/ECM RECORDS, COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
This evening’s concert has been made possible through a generous grant from Dan J. Epstein, Judy Guitelman, and the Dan J. Epstein Family Foundation.
Funding for educational programs during the 2024–25 Season of SCP Jazz has been generously provided by Dan J. Epstein, Judith Guitelman, and the Dan J. Epstein Family Foundation.
PHOTOS BY
