26th Annual Englewood Jazz Festival at Hamilton Park & Cultural Center

CELEBRATING THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LEGENDARY ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF CREATIVE MUSICIANS (AACM).

Live The Spirit Residency has commissioned new World Premiere works by Renée C. Baker, Adegoke Steve Colson, and Ernest Dawkins for this year’s festival in honor of the AACM’s 60th anniversary. 

Festival features performances by Roscoe Mitchell, Adegoke Steve Colson, Renée Baker, Alexander McLean Project, Isaiah Spencer Group, The Young Masters, JoVia Armstrong, Ernest Dawkins, Saxophonitis, Extraordinary Popular Delusions, Ben Lamar Gay Quartet, DJ Dwane Powell and more.

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The 26th Annual Englewood Jazz Festival, presented by Live the Spirit Residency, returns to Chicago’s historic Hamilton Park, expanding to five nights this year on September 16–20, 2025, marking a powerful milestone in American music: the 60th Anniversary of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). All events are FREE. 

Founded in 1999 by saxophonist and composer Ernest Dawkins, the Englewood Jazz Festival has become a vital platform for creative expression and cultural unity on Chicago’s South Side. This year’s festival pays tribute to the AACM, a globally influential collective born in Chicago that has shaped avant-garde jazz and experimental music for six decades.

Dawkins says: "The AACM has always stood for innovation, integrity, and the fearless pursuit of sound as a force for change," says Dawkins. "As we celebrate 60 years of its legacy, we honor not just the music, but the movement."

The weekend features performances by AACM legends and next-generation artists. Events take place indoors on Sep 16-19 and outdoors on September 20 rain or shine, moving indoors in case of inclement weather. Further information is available at englewoodjazzfestival.org or by calling (773) 789-4227.

Many of the featured artists at the 26th-anniversary festival are longstanding members of the AACM, or have connections with the AACM. 

This year’s festival begins with a double bill of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and Roscoe Mitchell Trio on Tuesday September 16, followed by saxophone quartet Saxophonitis, featuring:Ernest Dawkins, Kevin King, Jacob Slocum, Fred Jackson, and surprise guest) and Ben Lamar Gay Quartet KWATET on Wednesday September 17. This evening also features a panel discussion on the topic of “AACM at 60"

Thursday features a group led by festival director Ernest Dawkins in an original work entitled "Great Black Music - Ancient To The Future" dedicated to the founders of the AACM - Muhal Richard Abrams, Jodie Christian, Phil Cohran, and Steve McCall.

Friday night features a new work,“Infinite Opus. Score Eternal”, by music director and conductor of the Chicago Modern Orchestra Project (CMOP) and Modern Black Music Ensemble, Renée C. Baker. 

Moving outside on Saturday, The Young Masters under the direction of Ernest Dawkins, showcases rising talent. The 26th Anniversary celebration continues with a new work (“On The Back Porch”) by jazz composer Adegoke Steve Colson, and sets by JoVia Armstrong, Isaiah Spencer, and the Alexander McLean Project featuring Dee Alexander and John McLean. DJ Dwane Powell will spin in between musical acts. 

Additionally, as part of this event, to honor those whose work has helped shape and strengthen the foundation of jazz in Chicago, the annual Spirit of Jazz Awards will be presented to recipients to be announced. 

Complete schedule: 25th Englewood Jazz Festival

• Tuesday, September 16 (indoors - Fieldhouse)
  6:00 Extraordinary Popular Delusions
  7:00 Roscoe Mitchell Trio

• Wednesday, September 17 (indoors - Fieldhouse)
  4:30pm Panel Discussion “AACM at 60" featuring Adegoke Steve Colon, Iqua Colson, Renee Baker, and Ernest Dawkins
  6:00 Saxophonitis: Featuring: Ernest Dawkins, Kevin King, Jacob Slocum, Fred Jackson, and a surprise guest.
  7:00 Ben Lamar Gay Quartet, featuring Ben LaMar Gay on cornet , vocals, electronics flute; Matthew Davis on tuba, vocals, electronics, flute; Edinho Gerber on guitar, vocals, flute; Tommaso Moretti on drums, vocals

• Thursday, September 18 (indoors - Fieldhouse)
  6:00 pm: Ernest Dawkins presents the World Premiere of "Great Black Music - Ancient To The Future" a work composed by Dawkins dedicated to the founders of the AACM. Featuring Dee Alexander on vocals; Corey Wilkes on trumpet and electronics; Derrick Gardner on trumpet; Norman Palm on trombone; Kevin King on flute, clarinet, and oboe; Jacob Slocum on baritone saxophone, B clarinet, bass clarinet, and bassoon; Fred Jackson on flute, alto saxophone, and soprano saxophone; Caitlin Edwards and Edith Yokley on violins; Wilfred Farquharson on viola; Tahirah Whittington on cello; and Micah Collier on double bass; Kevin King on tenor saxophone, clarinet, flute and oboe; and Frank Morrison lll on drums.

• Friday, September 19 (indoors - Fieldhouse)
  6:00 pm
  Renée Baker conducts the World Premiere of her composition “Infinite Opus. Score Eternal”, featuring Ugochi  Nwaogwugwu, Dee Alexander,  vocals; Taalib din Ziyad vocals, Flutes; Edwin Daugherty Saxophones; Mwata Bowden,Clarinet and saxophones; Alex Wing,  Carlos Pride and Art Burton percussion; Bruce Nelson Vibes; and Carl Siegfried Bass

• Saturday, September 20 (outdoors) w/music between acts by DJ Dwane Powell.

  • 12:00 to 1:00 The Young Masters under the direction of Ernest Dawkins

  • 1:10 to 2:10 JoVia Armstrong

  • 2:20 to 3:20 Isaiah Spencer

  • 3:20 to 3:30 Spirit of Jazz Awards

  • 3:35 to 4:45 World Premiere of Adegoke Steve Colson’s new work “On The Back Porch”

  • 5:00 to 6:00 Alexander McLean Project

Live The Spirit Residency is a not-for-profit organization that produces the Englewood Jazz Festival. Ernest Dawkins is the Executive Director of the organization and the Festival.

This 26 year old organization has the full support of the Englewood community including State Senator Mattie Hunter, State Representative Sonya Harper, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, and the City Arts program of the Department of Cultural Affairs. Our Englewood Jazz Festival is generally generously supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, SEIU, and Grow Greater Englewood.

Selected biographies:

Dee Alexander is among the premier vocalists/songwriters and one of Chicago's most gifted and respected artists. Her performances span virtually every music genre related to the African diaspora: gospel, blues, neo-soul, R&B, and world music.  Her true heart belongs to jazz, the idiom that encompasses all her influences. She gravitated toward jazz at an early age naming several vocalists and musicians among her major influences. Her collaboration with Chicago saxophonist “Light” Henry Huff encouraged her to take risks and cross boundaries, setting her on the path to becoming an accomplished voice improviser. She produced a concert in tribute to Dinah Washington’s centennial at the 2024 Blues Festival at Chicago’s Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. In 2018, The Art Institute of Chicago commissioned Ms. Alexander to create/perform a concert inspired by artist Charles White: A Retrospective exhibit.  The Dee Alexander Trio performed at Newport Jazz Festival in 2013 to rave reviews. Her 2007 "Sirens of Song" tribute to Nina and Dinah (commissioned by the Jazz Institute of Chicago and Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events), at Chicago's Pritzker Pavilion, introduced her to a larger audience resulting in frequent tours to Europe, Africa and Asia.  She has long and fruitful associations with Chicago's jazz elite and leads her own groups: Dee Alexander Quartet, Evolution Ensemble and co-leader of Alexander/McLean Project. Her accolades include 2020 Esteem Artist Award; "Chicagoan of the Year" (Chicago Tribune, 2008); "Jazz Entertainer of the Year" (Chicago Music Awards); her 2009 album Wild Is The Wind received five stars (highest honor) from Downbeat Magazine, which named it among the Top Ten recordings of the new millennium. She was the 2012 3Arts/Southwest Airlines Award recipient and is a member of the 3Arts Artist Council.  Currently, she is also a member of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians), Chicago's internationally known musicians' collective and has performed in other large-scale works on Chicago stages and television. Dee is a radio host of the syndicated WFMT Jazz Network which broadcasts in over 200 markets.

JoVia Armstrong is a percussionist, composer, and educator whose work blends rhythm, technology, and experimental composition. Born in Detroit, Armstrong has performed with artists including El DeBarge, Nicole Mitchell, Isaiah Sharkey, and Malian musicians Ballaké Sissoko and Babani Koné. Her performance style bridges acoustic and electronic percussion, drawing influence from a diverse range of global traditions. She leads the electroacoustic ensemble Eunoia Society, which explores sound as a healing tool through immersive audio and contemplative composition. Their albums The Antidote Suite (2022) and Inception (2023) received widespread acclaim in The New York Times, DownBeat, JazzTimes, and The Wire. JoVia is also a member of the Detroit-based group Musique Noire and formerly served as percussionist and tour manager for JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound. An active educator and mentor for over two decades, she taught digital media and audio production and served youth in Chicago through YOUmedia and the Digital Youth Network. Armstrong earned her Ph.D. in Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology from UC Irvine. She now serves as Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Virginia, where she teaches composition and electronic music

Renee' C. Baker is a pioneering multidisciplinary artist whose work spans music, visual art, film, and composition. With over 2,000 orchestral and chamber works, she is known for her fearless innovation and genre-defying creativity. As founding music director and conductor of the Chicago Modern Orchestra Project (CMOP) and the MODERN BLACK MUSIC ENSEMBLE, Baker blends classical structure with the freedom of jazz, crafting immersive experiences where sound, movement, and visuals converge. Her groundbreaking conducting language, CCL/FLOW, guides ensembles through her “painted score” works, transforming performance into a transcendent, exploratory journey. A creator of dynamic ensembles like the Mantra Blue Free Orchestra and Berlin’s Bleueblue Walkers/Bass Kollektief, Baker constantly pushes the boundaries of contemporary music. Also a visual and film artist, Baker integrates movement and projection into her sonic theatre, building surreal, interactive spaces that merge experimentalism with classical form. Her graphic score novels have been acclaimed in Berlin, London, Poland, Scotland, and Vietnam. She currently serves as a member and interim Chair of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).

Adegoke Steve Colson, pianist, composer, saxophonist, historian, educator, is a Steinway Artist, and performs internationally as a soloist and leader of ensembles ranging from trios to orchestras. His work appears on labels including Columbia/Sony, Evidence, Black Saint, ECM as well as Silver Sphinx. He earned his degree from Northwestern University School of Music and joined the influential musicians’ collective, the Association for Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) in 1972 while living in Chicago. He returned to the east coast in 1982, moving to Montclair, NJ. His critically acclaimed international performances and recordings often illuminate social issues, and have featured modern innovators as Reggie Workman, David Murray, Wallace Roney, Malachi Favors, Andrew Cyrille, Joseph Jarman, Oliver Lake, Tyshawn Sorey and Henry Threadgill, as well as master artists of other disciplines such as poets/activists Amiri (LeRoi Jones) and Amina Baraka and dancers/choreographers Carmen de Lavallade and Savion Glover. He co-owns recording label Silver Sphinx with wife and musical partner Iqua, and their first release in 1980 later became part of the influential BBC Broadcaster Gilles Peterson’s 2011 compilation Freedom, Rhythm & Sound - Revolutionary Jazz and The Civil Rights Movement” which credited them as the early roots of the “indie” movement alongside such independent innovators as Maurice White, John Coltrane, Sun Ra, and Mary Lou Williams. Their latest Silver Sphinx release Glow: Music for Trio...Add Voice will be released August 2025. 

Ernest Dawkins is a saxophonist and composer, whose life goal is for his music and compositions to reflect the evolving collective cultural memory of the African-American jazz aesthetic. His four decades of work as a professional artist, educator, and community-based organizer are widely recognized for shaping the contemporary cultural landscape of Chicago and beyond. He is the founder and executive director of Live the Spirit Residency and past Chairman of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Commissions by the Jazz Institute of Chicago (Tim Black Blacker Than Black) and South Arts (Refound Connections) were both premiered in 2022. Other commissions include the Old Town School of Folk Music, the Black Metropolis Research Consortium, Sant’Anna Arresi Jazz Festival, Sons d’Hiver Festival, Banliues Bleues Festival, Meet the Composers, and the King Arts Complex of Columbus Ohio. He is the leader and founder of several ensembles, most notably the New Horizons Ensemble, Aesop Quartet, Chicago Trio, Live the Spirit Big Band, and the Chicago 12. Dawkins has recorded numerous CDs and his publishing company, Dawk Music, has seventeen releases to date.

Extraordinary Popular Delusions (EPD) is closing in on twenty (20) consecutive years of performances on an almost-every-week basis, mostly Monday nights at Beat Kitchen.  It is not entirely clear how the music they play would be categorized; though "jazz" or "free improvisation" would probably be reasonable suppositions:  pretty much, they just start playing and then at some point, stop.  The members of EPD (Edward Wilkerson, Jr; Brian Sandstrom; Steve Hunt; Jim Baker) have, over the past four decades or so, been playing awhile, both in/as EPD, and also with various other musicians, including Fred Anderson, Tatsu Aoki, Joshua Abrams, David Boykin, Bill Brimfield, Ari Brown, Frank Catalano, Shawn Colvin, Vincent Davis, Ernest Dawkins, Hamid Drake, Eight Bold Souls, Douglas Ewart, Von Freeman, Mats Gustafsson, Lin Halliday, Light Henry Huff, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Nicole Mitchell, Junius Paul, Edward Peterson, Willie Pickens, Avreeayl Ra, Dave Rempis, Charles Rumback, Hal Russell, Shadow Vignettes, Robert Shy, Luke Stewart, Tortoise, Ken Vandermark, Mars Williams, Jack Wright, Kahil El-Zabar, and Michael Zerang.  Although currently comprising four musicians, the members of EPD play a variety of instruments, including Alto Clarinet, Analog Synthesizer, Bass, Clarinet, Cymbals, Digeridoo, Drums, Electric Guitar, Miscellania, Percussion, Piano, Tenor Saxophone, Trumpet, Viola, and Waterphone.  Like most musicians, EPD is noting, with some apprehension, the impending onslaught of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, which--in at least some hypothetical futures--threaten to displace human musicians with AI-created music; however, unlike most musicians, EPD instead views the notion of AI displacement as more of a threat to audiences than to musicians, since AIs already outperform humans by all quantitative measures by which "listening" is gauged. 

Ben LaMar Gay is a multi-freshness artist who moves sound, color, and space components through folkloric filters producing brilliant electro-acoustic collages. An explorer of many mediums who has been called a “visionary musician” by the New York Times, Gay has found a form of creative expression that begins with improvisation and expands beyond the limits of any single genre. Receiving accolades for a parade of more than eight albums, his latest release “Yowzers” solidified his place in the firmament of the Chicago Jazz Renaissance and was revered as one of the “Best Albums of 2025” by Washington Post, Pitchfork, JazzTimes, and Digital Berliner. Gay is a beneficiary of the 2022 Mellon Archives Innovation Fellowship. A worldwide performer, Gay’s creative projects are embraced by communities in Cabo Verde, Nigeria, Brazil, Italy, France, Japan, Brazil, Poland, Rwanda, Germany, Cuba and more. He is adopting global visions while remaining true to his roots as a South-Side native of Chicago."

Roscoe Mitchell is an internationally acclaimed composer, multi-instrumentalist, and founding member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Renowned for his boundary-pushing solo performances and innovative use of woodwinds, Mitchell has helped define a hybrid compositional-improvisational language in contemporary music. He also founded the Creative Arts Collective, the Note Factory, and several other influential ensembles. Mitchell taught at Mills College from 2007 to 2018 as the Darius Milhaud Distinguished Chair of Composition. His numerous honors include the NEA Jazz Master Fellowship (2020), ASCAP Founders Award (2018), United States Artist Award (2019), and the inaugural Vanguard Award from Chamber Music America (2025). He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2024. Mitchell’s prolific output spans hundreds of recordings, including landmark albums like Sound (1966), Nonaah (1977), and Bells for the South Side (2017). Recent commissions include orchestral works and song cycles, with premieres by major ensembles worldwide. Also a visual artist since the 1960s, Mitchell’s paintings have been exhibited in solo shows in Chicago, Los Angeles, and upcoming in Marfa, Texas in 2025. His work across disciplines reflects a lifelong commitment to innovation and creative expression.

With his edgy style and innovative beats, Chicago native Isaiah Spencer has built a strong reputation as a jazz and blues drummer both nationally and internationally. He has performed at major festivals such as the Chicago Jazz and Blues Festivals, Blues on the Fox, and international events including Montreux, Red Sea, Sons D’Hiver, and Umbria Jazz Festivals. Spencer has shared the stage with legends like Fred Anderson, Roy Hargrove, Cyrus Chestnut, and Donald Harrison. His sound has been described as “propulsive” and “incendiary” by Chicago Tribune critic Howard Reich and “fiery” by culture writer Chris Searle. A lifelong musician, Isaiah began playing drums in church in third grade and joined his school band by fifth. He studied in the MERIT program, played in Lincoln Park High School’s concert and jazz bands, and trained under respected educators such as Dr. Curtis Prince, Dana Hall, Ernie Adams, and Ronald Carter. He continued his studies at Roosevelt University and with masters like Ralph Peterson Jr. and Hamid Drake. Active since 1998, Isaiah has performed with blues greats Buddy Guy and Pine Top Perkins, jazz icons like Wynton Marsalis and Clark Terry, and creative music leaders such as Nicole Mitchell and Vijay Iyer. He also tours with William Parker and Cyrus Chestnut. In addition to performing, Isaiah mentors youth through his drum camp program and volunteers to teach how music can uplift and empower. He currently serves as assistant band director and percussion teacher at New Trier High School.