Corey Wilkes plays the trumpet, Makaya McCraven on the drums
From Europe to Canada to the U.S., trumpet player Corey Wilkes is making a name for himself as a musician worldwide. On Sunday, Aug. 15, he was at the Smart Museum of Art in Hyde Park for the last music event before the upcoming Hyde Park Jazz Festival on Sept. 25 from the Hyde Park Alliance for Arts & Culture (HyPa). Approximately 150 people came to Sunday's event located at 5550 S. Greenwood Ave.
Part of the event was at 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., a reception to thank HyPa volunteers for their help at the year-long jazz events that started on Feb. 5. The other part of Sunday afternoon's event, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., was to mingle and celebrate jazz with the Corey Wilkes Quartet, including bass guitar player Junius Paul, drummer Makaya McCraven and pianist Robert "Baabe" Irving III.
Juices, water, tortilla chips, guacamole, salsa, various casserole dishes and fruit were spread out on tables for guests and HyPa volunteers before the music event began. Chairs lined the tent area directly outside of the Smart Museum of Art, and jazz lovers wasted no time to grab a seat.
"The best part about performing live is the interaction between the band and the crowd," said Wilkes. "There's an invisible line that we hope connects between the musicians and the audience."
Paul agreed that the audience topped his best list, and "energy" seemed to be a keyword for the group.
"My favorite part of performing live is the energy from the crowd when they're as into it as we are," the bass guitarist said. "It's a collective of the music, the scenery and the people. We want to give people what they want."
"Putting energy out and giving it back," added McCraven. "There's an energy we share with all the people here."
The enthusiastic atmosphere from the jazz audience included plenty of clapping, snapping, rocking, feet tapping and smiling while they bobbed their heads to the Corey Wilkes Quartet play their hearts out. Top hats were flung off of the heads of McCraven and Paul when the eighty-plus degree weather set in, and the level of excitement elevated.
Each musician had his own way of getting into the music. Wilkes tended to clap his knees together and point the trumpet down with his shoulders hunched. Paul turned his head to the sky and mouthed beats. McCraven's eyebrows furrowed together, shoulders jumping as he hit the drums. Irving III was the epitome of cool, shades on, slowly rocking back and forth as each song progressed. Loud applause was heard each time one of the quartet performed a solo. Wilkes performed so hard that he had to stop a few times for a swig of water and to enjoy the rest of the band before he went right back to front and centerstage. When the group finished, they got a standing ovation.
HyPa Passport to Jazz members stopped by the volunteer table to get their final stamps for free music and T-shirts and to have their free 2010 Jazz Pass shipped to them. Everybody who went to five 2010 events and got their Passport to Jazz booklets stamped five times will receive the 2010 Jazz Pass. Jazz Pass holders can sit in the front row of many of the 2010 Hyde Park Jazz events coming up. The Sept. 25 event will have 13 venues and 13 hours of free jazz in the Hyde Park area from 1 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Passport to Jazz holders still have one more shot of getting their last stamp by attending the Pearl Fest from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Little Black Pearl Art & Design Center, Montrose Park on 39th and Drexel. The price of admission is free for the Little Black Pearl event and to enter all 13 venues at the 2010 Hyde Park Jazz Fest.
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