Benny Green © Andrea Canter

Gifted jazz pianist Benny Green possesses the history of jazz at his fingertips. Combine mastery of keyboard technique with decades of real world experience playing with no one less than the most celebrated artists of the last half century, and it’s no wonder Green has been hailed as perhaps the most exciting, hard-swinging, hard-bop, pianist to ever emerge from Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. His most recent recording is Source, released in 2011 [click here for a Jazz Police review].The Benny Green Trio will appear at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago on Thursday, October 4th throush Sunday, October 7th.

The Borderbend Arts Collective proudly presents the Seventh Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival, September 27-October 13. Chicago Calling is a multi-arts collaboration festival; during the Seventh Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival people in Chicago work with people outside of Chicago, both here in the U.S. and abroad. These collaborations include a range of art forms, such as music, dance, film, literature, and intermedia -- prepared or improvised. Some Chicago Calling events involve live feeds between Chicago and other locations.

The 2012 Chicago Calling Arts Festival includes the following events—“Bicycles and the Arts” at the International Artist Group Gallery, “Silent Spring & Autumn 2012,” “Water Music” at Berger Park, “Speaking in Tongues: Chicago-China Collaborations” at Powell’s Books, “Ex Libris: Portfolio Exchange Opening Reception” at Spudnik Press, “Creative Currency: Words To Live By” at the Phantom Gallery Chicago Network Space, Chicago Calling at Elastic Sound & Vision Gallery, “Interpretations and Translations Featuring the Music of Nu Directions Chamber Brass” at the Southside Hub of Production, a performance at Gallery Cabaret, Red Rover Series Experiment #57: “We Can Be Heroes” at Outer Space Studio, “Harvest Fest: An Interfaith Arts Celebration” at Peoples Church, and Chicago Calling at The Yellow Book. www.chicagocalling.or

Miguel Zenón © Andrea Canter

The 6th Annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival, taking place on Saturday, September 29th and Sunday, September 30th features a line up of some of Chicago’s most critically acclaimed artists as well as nationally and internationally recognized jazz talents. Presented on 17 stages across Hyde Park, this one-of–a-kind two-day free festival showcases collaboration between academic, cultural and community institutions, and local businesses to present 40 free live jazz performances in a variety of indoor and outdoor settings. Chicago Magazine named the Hyde Park Jazz Festival the 2011 Best Neighborhood Music Festival.

This year’s performing artists include: Miguel Zenón; Wycliffe Gordon; Eric Schneider; Willie Pickens; Dee Alexander; Tomeka Reid; Pharez Whitted; Tammy McCann; Bobby Lewis; Dana Hall; Jason Adasiewicz; Mwata Bowden, Greg Ward, Victor Garcia, and many more. A full schedule follows.

Fred Hersch Trio©Andrea Canter

He’s long been one of the most sublime pianists and composers of modern jazz, and has also proved to be one of the most durable. Over his nearly three decades of performing and composing, pianist Fred Hersch has earned five Grammy nominations as well as critical accolades as: “a master who plays it his way" (Ben Ratliff,  The New York Times); “a pristine pianist with a poet’s soul--a pair of qualities that combine to especially dazzling effect" (Joan Anderman, The Boston Globe); “one of the most sensitive and genuinely lyrical players in jazz” (Bob Blumenthal, The Atlantic Monthly); "...a constantly inventive soloist” (Leonard Feather, The Los Angeles Times); and simply, “...a poet of a pianist.”(Whitney Balliett, The New Yorker). When he spent two months of 2008 in a coma triggered by AIDS-related complications, and much of the year unable to function independently, his career seemed in significant doubt, yet he recovered not only returning to composing and performing (including stints at the Village Vanguard), but has since brought forth one acclaimed recording after another. The most recent, the aptly titled Alive at the Vanguard, features what may be his most sympathetic trio yet (with John Hebert and Eric McPherson), now coming to Chicago’s Jazz Showcase, September 20-23.