Photo by Wayne Segal

Lou Donaldson Quartet (August 2-7). At 77, Lou Donaldson has played through more than fifty years of jazz history, from the pure bop of the 50s to R&B and soul/funk in the 60s and 70s, returning more and more to his trademark bop and blues in the last decade. A veteran of the golden age of Blue Note recordings whose early influences included Charlie Parker, Johnny Hodges, and Benny Carter, Donaldson has been on hand to celebrate Parker at the Jazz Showcase for more than 20 years running. Donaldson’s a “delightful old rascal, still spry at 78, tell his well-traveled tales with consummate timing” (Chicago Reader).

Photo by Andea Canter

Charles McPherson Quartet (August 9-14). Charles McPherson has been the keeper of the bop flame for nearly a half century. Transplanted to Detroit from Joplin, MO, McPherson started out on trumpet, switching to alto shortly thereafter and coming under the spell of Charlie Parker as a young teenager. Later mentored by Barry Harris, McPherson arrived on the New York scene at 19, joining Charles Mingus’ bands. Over the years he was associated with Cedar Walton, Eric Dolphy, Art Farmer, Wynton Marsalis and many others. Today, McPherson lives in San Diego and is blowing as strongly as ever, combining passion with intricate improvisations. He doesn’t just carry the torch for bop, he takes the idiom beyond its origins. Notes George Varga (Jazz Times), “Appropriately, McPherson's music is a felicitous blend of urbane sophistication and youthful passion that combines fire and finesse in equal measure.”

Photo by Howard Gitelson

Barry Harris Trio (August 23-28). The quintessential bop piano master, Barry Harris is one of the great jazz artists to emerge from Detroit in the era of Tommy Flanagan and Donald Byrd. Strongly influenced in the mid-40s by the music of Monk, Powell, and Parker, Harris backed such legends as Miles Davis, Wardell Gray, Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, Lee Konitz, and Lester Young at Detroit’s Bluebird Lounge and Rouge, and was teaching bop theory in the 1950s. After moving to New York in 1960, Harris worked with Yuseff Lateef, Coleman Hawkins, Charles McPherson, and Cannonball Adderley. In addition to his performance chops, Harris has become one of the best known jazz educators, receiving an American Jazz Masters Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and conducting clinics and workshops all over the world. Now 76, Harris has not slowed down a bit, bringing his trio to the Village Vanguard and the North Sea Jazz Festival in the past month. Said Benny Golson, “I've always thought that if Charlie Parker had played piano, he would sound exactly like Barry Harris. Or is it the other way around? In any case, Barry's sense of time, motion and rhythm is absolutely impeccable."

Ira Sullivan, photo by Andrea Canter

Ira Sullivan & Eric Shneider, “Alto a la Bird” (August 29). Multi-instrumentalist Ira Sullivan is a one-man band—he plays (seriously) trumpet, flugelhorn, peckhorn, tenor, alto, baritone, and soprano saxes, flute, and occasionally drums. A five-time Grammy nominee, Sullivan performs and records extensively internationally and is also in demand for workshops and clinics. In Chicago in the 1950s, Sullivan played with the great bop artists, Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Wardell Gray, and Roy Eldridge, gaining his own reputation as a fierce bop soloist. After playing briefly with Art Blakey (1956), he left the spotlight for Florida, yet managed to continue his career, working in Miami with Jaco Pastorius and Pat Metheny. In 1980, Sullivan moved to New York and began a long association with trumpeter Red Rodney. At 74, Sullivan keeps busy recording and performing, using his full arsenal of horns.

Afterfest Jam with Ira Sullivan and The Willie Pickens Trio (August 30-September 4). Straddling the Chicago Jazz Festival, the annual Afterfest features Ira Sullivan in the company of southside legendary pianist Willie Pickens. He’s recorded and/or toured with Eddie Harris, Elvin Jones, Roy Eldridge, and Max Roach, and has been a committed jazz educator. Recently he released an acclaimed duet album with Marian McPartland. Chicago Reader jazz critic Neil Tesser noted, "Pickens' most exuberant solos all but take flight from the keyboard's runway."

For information, visit www.jazzshowcase.com. Reservations only with dinner package in conjunction with Maggiano’s. The Jazz Showcase is located just north of Chicago’s Loop at 59 W. Grand; (312)670-2473. Showtimes are 8 pm and 10 pm, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; Friday and Saturday 9 pm and 11 pm; Sunday at 4 pm, 8 pm & 10 pm.