The Chicago Jazz Festival, a Labor Day weekend tradition, kicks off this Friday, September 4th at Grant Park with headliners Madeleine Peyroux and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. The rest of the weekend is packed with live performances in genres from big band to Latin, contemporary, classic, and vocal jazz. Catch local acts like vocalist Dee Alexander, saxophonist Fred Anderson, and the Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble, as well as artists from all over the U.S. and around the world. Events are free all weekend long through Sunday night's world premier performance of an orchestral piece, "Spiralview," composed by Muhal Richard Abrams.

Check out the full schedule of events, and be sure not miss a performance by our very own DePaul University Jazz Ensemble, led by Bob Lark, on Saturday, September 5th at 3 p.m. on the Young Jazz Lions Stage!

If you can't make the festival this weekend but still want to hear some jazz, consider checking out one of these new albums recently added to our circulating CD collection:

T Time by Stanley Turrentine
Benny Goodman: Yale University Archives, 1955-1986
Round & Round by Lee Konitz
The Hawk Flies High (remastered) by Coleman Hawkins
The New Crystal Silence by Chick Corea and Gary Burton
Nightmoves by Kurt Elling
Appearing Nightly by Carla Bley and her Remarkable Big Band