The Englewood Jazz Festival has been hailed by critics as “The most provocative jazz performance of the year” and certainly one of the best free festivals in the City of Chicago. The Festival is our keynote event and offers Englewood and Chicago area residents a free day of music that provides an opportunity to introduce jazz lovers to local and national artists who write and perform their own mus
ic. Over the past fourteen years, these artists, and many others, have graced the Festival stage: Oliver Lake, Roscoe Mitchell, Jimmy Ellis, Houston Person, Von Freeman, George Freeman, Ari Brown, Tatsu Aioki, Willie Pickens, Delfeayo Marsalis, Dee Alexander, Muntu Dance Theater, Zim Ngqawana, and Maggie Brown. In 2000, Englewood resident, composer, bandleader, and internationally renowned artist, Ernest “Khabeer” Dawkins created Live the Spirit Residency and the Englewood Jazz Festival as part of a three-year “Meet the Composers Round VII New Residencies” grant to promote the creation of new work by emerging composers, provide music instruction and other activities for youth and residents, and to develop the Live the Spirit Big Band. His vision and determination to increase awareness and appreciation of jazz and jazz artists by developing programs — master classes, workshops, residencies, exchanges – that speak to this under-served community and that reflect its history and experiences, has kept the Festival alive and growing for over a decade.
