There’s a good deal of differentiation between jazz festivals - some are large while some are small, some festivals run over the course of a week while others load several groups into one day, some cover a variety of jazz flavors while some stick to one focus; the diversity between festivals can be staggering, but one all these events share one fact - they are a lot of work to organize. A group of individuals with a smart jazz background need to choose musicians, check schedules, book the concerts, and arrange travel accommodations. Festival organizers need to be in touch with the needs and desires of their local community as well as the greater jazz community, drawing upon the fine balance of tradition and innovation that suits their audience. Other people must organize venues for the concerts, often times negotiating details with multiple individuals, and trying to coordinate dates between various locales. Any successful festival relies upon massive amounts of promotion, getting the word out to their local population and beyond through print media, radio, television, schools, and online channels. Then there’s the actual event itself - managing ticket sales, maintaining crowd control, getting artists onstage, and more. There’s an endless list of details for a successful festival - it’s a massive undertaking that by necessity needs to be rooted in a deep love for jazz. These festivals rarely fall upon the shoulders of one person or even a small group of people; the creation and survival of a serious jazz festival requires the support of a highly structured organization.

These organizations need to well-oiled machines with the man power to deal with all the logistics of a festival, but one necessary element guarantees their success: a clear and defined vision - a trait firmly embodied in the Jazz Institute of Chicago. The Institute held a strong vision right from its beginnings in 1969, when it was put together by a group of people with a vested interest in jazz. A collection of jazz fans, writers, club owners, and musicians decided that they held a responsibility to keep the city’s rich jazz heritage alive, and they took the proper steps to make this happen. From the group’s early concert presentations to the modern day, the Jazz Institute has kept a strong connection to both the established preferences of their community and the need to challenge their public with new and innovative music. This insight has kept the Jazz Institute programming the now strongly established Chicago Jazz Festival with a variety of interesting music. In addition, the Jazz Institute expanded their offerings through a partnership with the city’s parks, allowing them to promote the local Chicago music scene in the parks. This led to the creation of the yearly Latin Jazz Festival, now in its third year; a special event showcasing Chicago’s growing Latin Jazz community. Add a strong educational component into the mix and the Jazz Institute holds all the ingredients to maintain a thriving jazz scene.

I covered the Latin Jazz Festival in yesterday’s Weekly Latin Jazz Video Fix, discussing the Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble and beyond, but I neglected to focus upon The Jazz Institute, the organization behind the festival. When this was brought to my attention, I realized that the recognition for such a fantastic event needs to go beyond simple coverage; it needs to look at the bigger picture. Any community organization that supports the growth of Latin Jazz in their community has their heart in the right place, and they deserve a big thanks from LJC. Keeping this in mind, I called Daniel Melnick, the programs director for the Jazz Institute, hoping to get the full scoop on the Latin Jazz Festival, Chicago’s Latin Jazz scene, and the Jazz Institute. Enjoy!

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Latin Jazz Corner: Tell me a little bit about the Jazz Institute and what you do to support jazz.

Dan Melnick: We’re a non-profit arts presentation organization. We program concerts throughout the years as well as the Chicago Jazz Festival. This Latin Jazz Festival is part of our Jazz City series that takes place in Chicago Park District facilities throughout the year. There are ten of them each year. This is the third time that we’ve done these mini-Latin Jazz festivals where we present a number of acts over the course of an evening. We’re highlighting the Latin Jazz scene here in Chicago that is really growing and that we really want to support.

LJC: How did the Latin Jazz Festival get started?

DM: We’d been presenting concerts at Humboldt Park, which is in an area of town with a large Puerto Rican population and a large Mexican population. We wanted to present shows that were related to the culture of the neighborhood. We’d been presenting just one Latin Jazz act there each year for several years. One year we had the idea to add another opening act and then we said, well, what if we turned this into a mini-festival and had a few acts. This is the third year that we’ve done that and we’re hoping to expand it in the future.

LJC: What is the response like? Is it popular?

DM: I’d say it’s one of our most popular concerts in the series. We always have a huge crowd, people get up and dance. It’s always really a very lively event. It’s also great because it really is a community event - it’s free and it’s open to the public. People from the neighborhood come out, street vendors show up and sell food, and it really turns into this whole interesting scene. A lot of people come to dance and enjoy the music, and I think it’s been really successful.

LJC: So what are your plans for the future of the Latin Jazz Festival?

DM: We really think the Latin Jazz scene in Chicago is expanding and we want to help foster that growth. So we always book Latin Jazz acts on our main festival – The Chicago Jazz Festival. This year to help promote getting a Latin Jazz audience to come out to the festival, we’re going to be showing Calle 54 at Humboldt Park in August. It will be free and open to the public so people can come check it out and hear about the festival. The Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble will be at the festival this year, and we also have Gonzalo Rubalcaba at the festival. We always have a lot going on and we try to encourage that.

LJC: So you said there’s a growing Latin Jazz scene in Chicago – what would say that they scene is like? Are there any other names that you might throw out?

DM: Well, there’s Chévere, who have been around for many years and are led by Howard Levy and Alejo Poveda. They’ve been around for a long time; I think almost thirty years they’ve been playing. In some ways, they’re the core of the local scene here. There’s also Ruben Alvarez, who plays in Chévere, and lot of other musicians from other bands that play in that band.

I certainly think the Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble is in the future going to be recognized as a really premiere Latin big band. As far as I’m concerned, they’re as good as anyone out there right now so I really hope that they get more national recognition for the fact that they’re doing some really innovative and interesting things. Darwin Noguera, who co-leads the band with Victor Garcia, he just put a new album with his Evolution Quintet. He’s really phenomenal and I think that he’ll continue to rise in stature, as well as Victor Garcia, the trumpet player who co-leads the Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble. Darwin’s band from the CD, they’re all really killer young players.

LJC: I noticed that you’ve got an educational component to the Institute – one thing that has been a topic of discussion on LJC lately has been the declining number of young people in the jazz audience – what are you doing to expand the young audience in Chicago.

DM: We do a number of things; I’ll try to touch on all of them briefly. One thing that we do is we work not only with youth, but we also work with teachers. We’ve been working with Chicago public school teachers to help them create better jazz curriculum. So we’re actually this summer going to be running a jazz educator’s camp for the first time. We run our Jazz Links education program for kids where we hold monthly jam sessions - we have a professional rhythm section and kids who are too young to get into clubs can come jam. We put professional musicians in the schools - we pay for working musicians to go into schools and do six-week residencies during the school year. Then they can see working musicians and learn from musicians outside of their teachers. We also have a mentorship award; we have try-outs and several students are awarded free lessons for a year. Our Jazz Link kids also participate in something that we call Student Council where they get performance opportunities. They open for a lot of our concerts and they also this year are going to be recording a CD for the first time. We really see it as not only trying to create the next generation of musicians but also the next generation of an audience. We know that not all of these kids are necessarily going to become professional jazz musicians, but I can guarantee you, these kids are all going to be lifelong jazz fans.

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Don’t Forget! The Chicago Latin Jazz Festival will be held this Friday July 17, 2009; if you’re in the area, make sure that you check it out. Performers will be Paulinho Garcia, John Rodriguez and Latin Inspiration, and the Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble.

Chicago Latin Jazz Festival
WHEN: Friday 7/17/09
WHERE: Humboldt Park Boathouse
1359 N. Sacramento Ave
Chicago, IL
TIME: 7:00 p.m.
TICKETS: FREE

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Check Out These Related Posts:
On A Mission To Promote Afro-Peruvian Jazz: Pasache Music
Educating A New Generation Of Latin Jazz Musicians: Sher Music Co.
Finding A Voice As A Record Label: Cacao Musica’s Second Wave Of Releases
Patois Records: Documenting The Bay Area Latin Jazz Sound

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