Greg Ward

Music, Music Feature Oct 1, 2020
Slideshow
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival takes it to the streets

With short sets from small groups in unexpected spots, the festival creates a communal experience that’s pandemic safe.
- By Bill Meyer
- Tags: Music Feature, Hyde Park Jazz Festival, livestream, pop-up concerts, Kate Dumbleton, Midway Plaisance, Rockefeller Chapel, Logan Center for the Arts, University of Chicago, Hyde Park, Kenwood, Washington Park, Alexis Lombre Quartet, Jahari Stampley, Greg Ward, Rogue Parade, Charles Heath, Ramsey Lewis, Dee Alexander, A-Team, Protest, Marquis Hill, Circle in the Round, Dana Hall, Junius Paul, Michael King, Irvin Pierce, the Silent Hour, Mike Reed, Tomeka Reid, Jason Adasiewicz, Loose Assembly, Russ Johnson, Jakob Heinemann, Oakland, Maggie Brown, Green Line Performing Arts Center, Fred Jackson Jr., Avreeayl Ra, Oakland Museum of Contemporary Art, Milton Mizenberg Jr., Nick Mazzarella, Quin Kirchner, Madison Park, Russ Johnson Quartet, Lenard Simpson, Ken Vandermark, Black Monument Ensemble, Damon Locks, Iowa Building, World’s Columbian Exposition, Thaddeus Tukes, Mike Frasier, Chicago Freedom Ensemble, Slideshow

Music, Music Feature Sep 10, 2020
Jazz musicians turn an Old Town porch into a stage

When the pandemic shuttered Chicago’s music venues, pianist Danny Bauer improvised a solution—a nightly concert series right in front of his home.
- By Jamie Ludwig
- Tags: Music Feature, Danny Bauer, Jack Macklin, jazz, Porch Power, Matt Ulery, Jon Dietemyer, Alyssa Algood, Greg Ward, Jonathan Marks, porch concerts, Safety Squad

Music, Music Feature Aug 27, 2020
Video
Chicago’s September jazz festivals cope with COVID

The city is replacing its traditional huge outdoor affair with a slimmed-down online event, while the smaller, nimbler Hyde Park Jazz Festival plans to try pop-up in-person shows.
- By Bill Meyer
- Tags: Music Feature, Chicago Jazz Festival, Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Millennium Park at Home: Jazz Music, Jazz Postcards, pandemic, coronavirus, COVID-19, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, DCASE, Jazz Showcase, Green Mill, Constellation, Elastic Arts, Experimental Sound Studio, Quarantine Concerts, Option Series, Catalytic Sound, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Adam Zanolini, Kate Dumbleton, Peter Margasak, Solo Impro Festival, Doek Festival, Cristina Marx, Millennium Park Summer Music Series, Jon Langford, Sam Trump, Zeshan B, Mucca Pazza, the Promontory, Dee Alexander, Khari B., Junius Paul Quartet, Souleyes—An Exercise in Reconstruction, Jazz Festival Citywide, Citywide Jazz, Midway Plaisance, University of Chicago, Logan Center for the Arts, Bobby Broom Trio, Tito Carrillo Quintet, Twin Talk, Nick Mazzarella Trio, Abigail Riccards, Von Freeman, Clifford Jordan, Fred Hersch Trio, Muhal Richard Abrams, Experimental Band, Myra Melford, Angel Bat Dawid, Corey Wilkes, Greg Ward, Tomeka Reid, Avreeayl Ra, Joshua Abrams, HPJF, Video

Music, Music Review Jun 12, 2020
Recommended
Quin Kirchner merges eclectic sounds into transcendent jazz on The Shadows and the Light
- By Jordannah Elizabeth
- Tags: Music Review, Quin Kirchner, The Shadows and the Light, Astral Spirits, jazz, batá, Africa, Matt Ulery, Nate Lepine, Rob Clearfield, Greg Ward, Jason Stein, Nick Broste, Brian Sulpizio, Kelan Phil Cohran, Recommended

Music, Music Feature Sep 30, 2019
Slideshow
Photos: The Hyde Park Jazz Festival

The south side’s own world-class jazz fest played host to dozens of shows and more than a hundred musicians.
- By Philip Montoro and Michael Jackson
- Tags: Music Feature, Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Hyde Park Jazz Society, photos, Logan Center for the Arts, University of Chicago, Hyde Park, jazz, Angel Bat Dawid, Requiem for Jazz, Isaiah Collier, The Story of 400 Years, Karuna, Hamid Drake, Adam Rudolph, Mary Halvorson, MacArthur, Sylvie Courvoisier, Greg Ward, Ambrose Akinmusire, Amir ElSaffar, Tia Fuller, Dana Hall, Spring, Dee Alexander, Maggie Brown, Sam Trump, Orbert Davis, Ari Brown, Juan Pastor, Pharez Whitted, Project Tool, Tito Carillo, Nick Mazzarella, Quin Kirchner, Tia Fuller, Kate Dumbleton, Slideshow

Music, Music Feature Aug 27, 2019
Trumpeter Russ Johnson dances along a fine line

The Wisconsin composer and bandleader strikes a perfect balance between mainstream and vanguard.
- By John Corbett
- Tags: Music Feature, Russ Johnson, Chicago Jazz Festival, Jazz Festival, trumpet, New York, Wisconsin, Headlands, Berklee College of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Lee Konitz, Steve Swallow, Jazz Passengers, Kris Davis, Jenny Scheinman, Tom Varner, Milwaukee, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Greg Ward, 10 Tongues, Geof Bradfield, Clark Sommers, Dana Hall, Ba(SH), Nick Mazzarella, Spring, Still Out to Lunch, Meeting Point

Music, Music Feature Aug 22, 2018
The complete schedule of the 2018 Chicago Jazz Festival

All 68 sets in Millennium Park and the Cultural Center, including Maceo Parker, Jaimie Branch, Jason Stein, Diane Reeves, Greg Ward & 10 Tongues, and Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society
- Tags: Music Feature, Chicago Jazz Festival, Jazz Festival, jazz, schedule, Millennium Park, Cultural Center, Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Nicole Mitchell, Eric Revis, Chris Speed, Sabertooth, Matthew Shipp, Jaimie Branch, Jason Stein, Darcy James Argue, Secret Society, Maceo Parker, Ramsey Lewis, John Wright, Geof Bradfield, Quin Kirchner, Dustin Laurenzi, Greg Ward, 10 Tongues, Mandorla Awakening, Orbert Davis

Blogs, Bleader Mar 5, 2018
Chicago musical polymath Ben LaMar Gay breaks even his own shape-shifting mold on his solo debut

Ben LaMar Gay took seven years to make Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun, which fuses R&B, funk, jazz, electro, Brazilian music, and more.
- By Peter Margasak
- Tags: Jazz, Music, Post No Bills, Ben LaMar Gay, Mike Reed, Greg Ward, Joshua Abrams, Makaya McCraven, Theaster Gates, Nicole Mitchell, El Is a Sound of Joy, Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun, Bottle Tree, Swim Swim, Nights of Cabiria

Music, Concert Preview Dec 29, 2017
Recommended
Chicago reedists Jason Stein and Greg Ward front a dynamic collective with New York’s Eric Revis and Jim Black
- By Peter Margasak
- Tags: Concert Preview, Jason Stein, Greg Ward, Eric Revis, Jim Black, Recommended

Music, Music Feature Sep 27, 2017
Video
Chicago bass clarinetist Jason Stein isn’t kidding around

Not even arena gigs with his famous sister, comedian Amy Schumer, can tempt him from his drive to make better jazz.
- By Peter Margasak
- Tags: Music Feature, Jason Stein, bass clarinet, jazz, Lucille!, Delmark, Amy Schumer, Inside Amy Schumer, Last Comic Standing, Celebrity Family Feud, Locksmith Isidore, Hearts & Minds, Jason Stein Quartet, Constellation, Hungry Brain, 3030, Northern Spy, Greg Ward, Eric Revis, Jim Black, Paul Giallorenzo, Jason Roebke, Mike Pride, Keefe Jackson, Joshua Abrams, Tom Rainey, Ken Vandermark, Bridge 61, In Exchange for a Process, The Story This Time, Journal, Nate McBride, Mike Reed, Josh Berman, Frank Rosaly, University of Michigan, Don Walden, Montana, Bozeman, Helena, Bennington, Russ Johnson, Kyle Bruckmann, Charles Rumback, Video

Music, Music Feature May 31, 2016
Video
Saxophonist Greg Ward returns to Chicago on Mingus wings

A multidisciplinary project inspired by The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady helped lure him back from New York—and it could make for his biggest album yet.
- By Peter Margasak
- Tags: Music Feature, Greg Ward, Charles Mingus, Touch My Beloved’s Thought, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, Bob Thiele, Onye Ozuzu, Mike Reed, Roell Schmidt, Nathaniel Braddock, Occidental Brothers Dance Band International, People Places and Things, Fitted Shards, Loose Assembly, Links Hall, Constellation, Made in Chicago: World Class Jazz, Dave Miller, Matt Gold, Matt Ulery, Quin Kirchner, jazz, saxophone, Columbia College, 10 Tongues, Charlie Mariano, Greenleaf, Dave Douglas, Video

Music, Music Feature Sep 16, 2015
Video
Jazz grows under Ernest Dawkins's feet

By staying put in his hometown, this Chicago saxophonist has nurtured generations of musicians—and a south-side festival that's now in its 16th year.
- By David Whiteis
- Tags: Music Feature, Ernest Dawkins, New Horizons Ensemble, Yosef Ben Israel, Jeff Parker, Avreeayl Ra, Marquis Hill, Memory in the Center, an Afro Opera: Homage to Nelson Mandela, Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, AACM, Maurice Brown, Corey Wilkes, Nicole Mitchell, David Boykin, Aaron Getsug, Greg Ward, Norman Palm, Isaiah Spencer, Englewood, Hamilton Park, Alexis Lombre, James Wenzel, Isaiah Collier, Jeremiah Collier, Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, Kahil El'Zabar, Englewood Jazz Festival, Live the Spirit Residency, Live the Spirit Big Band, Bobby Dawkins, Regal Theater, Black Artists Group, James Johnson, Vandercook College of Music, Von Freeman, South Side Street Songs, Fred Anderson, Washington Park, Video

Blogs, Bleader Nov 7, 2014
Jazz bassist Jason Roebke brings together unexpected sounds in his edgy quartet, Combination

On the sonic confusion of the ubiquitous bassist and his quartet
- By Peter Margasak
- Tags: Jazz, Music, Post No Bills, Jason Roebke, Greg Ward, Jeb Bishop, Frank Rosaly, Jason Roebke Combination, jazz, Brian Labycz, "Scanning"

Blogs, Bleader Sep 28, 2012
Audio
The rise of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival

The sixth annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival opens up its artistic parameters
- By Peter Margasak
- Tags: Music, Post No Bills, Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Miguel Zenón, Kate Dumbleton, Wycliffe Gordon, jazz, Greg Ward, Sun Rooms, Dee Alexander, Dana Hall, Tomeka Reid, Zach Brock, Laurent Coq, La Muerte de Rocamadour, Rayuela, Audio

Blogs, Bleader Aug 1, 2012
Audio
Helping hands: Greg Ward and Marcus Strickland

Saxophonists Greg Ward and Marcus Strickland roll into Chicago to play with Makaya McCraven
- By Peter Margasak
- Tags: Music, Post No Bills, Greg Ward, Marcus Strickland, Makaya McCraven, jazz, saxophonists, Phonic Juggernaut, Audio

Blogs, Bleader Dec 9, 2011
Audio
Mike Reed's PPT closes out the tenth year of Sunday Transmissions

Mike Reed's People, Places & Things plays the final concert in the yearlong tenth-anniversary celebration of the Sunday Transmission series at the Hungry Brain.
- By Peter Margasak
- Tags: Music, Post No Bills, Mike Reed, People Places and Things, Clean on the Corners, Hungry Brain, Sunday Transmission, Josh Berman, Craig Taborn, Greg Ward, Tim Haldeman, Jason Roebke, Audio

Blogs, Bleader Oct 18, 2011
The sound streams of Jason Roebke's Combination

Bassist Jason Roebke's quartet the Combination gives one of its infrequent performances on Wednesday at the Hideout.
- By Peter Margasak
- Tags: Music, Post No Bills, Jason Roebke Combination, Frank Rosaly, Greg Ward, Brian Labycz, Hideout, Centering, audio, Chicago jazz

Blogs, Bleader Aug 15, 2011
Guitarist Dave Miller leaves town for Brooklyn

Guitarist Dave Miller split Chicago for Brooklyn earlier this summer, but he's back in town for a handful of gigs.
- By Peter Margasak
- Tags: Music, Post No Bills, Dave Miller, Nicole Mitchell, Chicago jazz, New York, Tim Daisy New Fracture Trio, Matt Wilson, the Whistler, Aram Shelton, Matt Bauder, Greg Ward

Blogs, Bleader Nov 30, 2010
Greg Ward's New York Sound

Chicago native Greg Ward moved to New York last year, and a new interview and performance with a killer new trio shows what he's been doing there.
- By Peter Margasak
- Tags: Music, Post No Bills, Greg Ward, Fitted Shards, South Side Stories, WBGO, Josh Jackson, the Checkout, Chicago jazz

Music, Music Feature Apr 15, 2010
Audio
Blame Obama!

A tribute to the president brought together Chicago's Occidental Brothers Dance Band International and their new front man: African superstar Samba Mapangala.
- By Peter Margasak
- Tags: Music Feature, Occidental Brothers Dance Band International, Nathaniel Braddock, Odo Sanbra, Samba Mapangala, CC Smith, Orchestre Les Kinois, Orchestra Virunga, Obama Ubarikiwe, Barack Obama, Greg Ward, Daniel "Rambo" Asamoah, Kofi Cromwell, Western Diamonds, Ancient Greeks, Zincs, Anthony Akablay, Kyle Hernandez, Doug Brush, George Lawler, Antonio Carella, L'Orchestre Super Vitesse, Joshua Ramos, Makaya McCraven, Lokassa Ya Mbogo, Diblo Dibala, soukous, highlife, palmwine, benga, Congo, Nairobi, Kinshasa, Ghana, Uganga, Kenya, African music, Afropop Worldwide, Audio

Blogs, Bleader Aug 18, 2009
Fred Anderson Feted in Millennium Park on Thursday
- By Peter Margasak
- Tags: Music, Post No Bills, Fred Anderson, AACM, Pritzker Pavilion, Great Black Music Ensemble, George Lewis, Millennium Park, Greg Ward, Francis Wong, Ed Wilkerson Jr., Tomeka Reid, Cultural Center, Chicago Cultural Center

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With short sets from small groups in unexpected spots, the festival creates a communal experience that’s pandemic safe.

When the pandemic shuttered Chicago’s music venues, pianist Danny Bauer improvised a solution—a nightly concert series right in front of his home.

The city is replacing its traditional huge outdoor affair with a slimmed-down online event, while the smaller, nimbler Hyde Park Jazz Festival plans to try pop-up in-person shows.

The south side’s own world-class jazz fest played host to dozens of shows and more than a hundred musicians.

The Wisconsin composer and bandleader strikes a perfect balance between mainstream and vanguard.

All 68 sets in Millennium Park and the Cultural Center, including Maceo Parker, Jaimie Branch, Jason Stein, Diane Reeves, Greg Ward & 10 Tongues, and Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society

Ben LaMar Gay took seven years to make Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun, which fuses R&B, funk, jazz, electro, Brazilian music, and more.

Not even arena gigs with his famous sister, comedian Amy Schumer, can tempt him from his drive to make better jazz.

A multidisciplinary project inspired by The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady helped lure him back from New York—and it could make for his biggest album yet.

By staying put in his hometown, this Chicago saxophonist has nurtured generations of musicians—and a south-side festival that's now in its 16th year.

On the sonic confusion of the ubiquitous bassist and his quartet

The sixth annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival opens up its artistic parameters

Saxophonists Greg Ward and Marcus Strickland roll into Chicago to play with Makaya McCraven

Mike Reed's People, Places & Things plays the final concert in the yearlong tenth-anniversary celebration of the Sunday Transmission series at the Hungry Brain.

Bassist Jason Roebke's quartet the Combination gives one of its infrequent performances on Wednesday at the Hideout.

Guitarist Dave Miller split Chicago for Brooklyn earlier this summer, but he's back in town for a handful of gigs.

Chicago native Greg Ward moved to New York last year, and a new interview and performance with a killer new trio shows what he's been doing there.

A tribute to the president brought together Chicago's Occidental Brothers Dance Band International and their new front man: African superstar Samba Mapangala.

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