Join us for a night out in beautiful Ping Tom Memorial Park for live jazz with two amazing jazz artists and their quartets.
Katie Ernst Quartet at 6PM | Greg Ward Quartet at 7:15PM.
The concert will be held outdoors at the south end of Ping Tom Memorial Park under the 18th Street bridge at 1900 S. Wells. Bring your lawn chairs and enjoy a night out in the park! TacoMotora Food Truck will also be there to serve you some of Chicago’ best tacos and more! Beverages and food can b
KATIE ERNST QUARTET 6PM
Katie Ernst on bass/vocals
Marcus Evans on drums
Wes Dziedzic on piano
Dustin Laurenzi, tenor saxophone
GREG WARD QUARTET 7:15PM
Greg Ward on sax
Scott Hesse on guitar
Christian Dillingham on bass
Quin Kirchner on drum
Jazz City is free, family friend, open to the public, and presented by the Jazz Institute of Chicago in partnership with the Chicago Park District and is supported by a CityArts grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, The Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Media sponsors are WDCB and WHPK radio.
MORE ABOUT GREG WARD
Greg Ward is a saxophonist and composer that was born in Peoria, IL. Currently based in Chicago, Ward has had the opportunity to perform and record with a varied group of artists like Prefuse 73, Lupe Fiasco, Tortoise, William Parker, Makaya McCraven, Linda Oh, and Mike Reed. As a bandleader, Ward has produced 5 recordings including Fitted Shards: South Side Story, Phonic Juggernaut, Touch My Beloved’s Thought, Rogue Parade: Stomping Off From Greenwood, and Fitted Shards: High Alert. As a composer, he has also received commissions from the Jazz Gallery in NYC, the Chicago Jazz Institute, the City of Chicago’s Made In Chicago: World
Class Jazz Series, Peoria Ballet Company, the Jazz Coalition, and the B’Town Jazz Festival. He has also been awarded the New Music USA Van Lier Fellowship in 2012 and DCASE IAP grants in 2017 and 2018. Ward maintains an active international
touring schedule with various ensembles and has recently been appointed to the faculty of the Jacob School of Music at Indiana University as Assistant Professor of Jazz Saxophone.
MORE ABOUT KATIE ERNST
Described by the Chicago Tribune as "a versatile young bassist who plays in far-flung bands and sings with uncommon delicacy and authenticity." She is co-leader of the adventurous Chicago-based jazz trio Twin Talk, folk-jazz duo Wayfaring, and has received widespread critical acclaim for her Dorothy Parker poetry song cycle Little Words, which premiered at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
Recent performances and recognitions include receiving a 2022 composing residency at the Ragdale Foundation, performing in Mexico City, MX for a Chicago/CDMX Improvised Music Exchange in 2020; performances at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival and Chicago Jazz Festival; performing with MacArthur Fellow pianist/composer Jason Moran at the Chicago Symphony Center and the Kennedy Center; representing the USA as bassist and vocalist for the 2018 EuroRadio Jazz Orchestra in Riga, Latvia; and being named a Luminarts Fellow in Jazz in 2013.
Katie is an active sidewoman in the jazz and improvised music communities of Chicago, regularly performing with Alvin Cobb Jr. Trio, Gustavo Cortiñas’ Kind Regards, and Ted Sirota’s Hungry Brain Fellowship Trio. She travels throughout the US as a guest artist/clinician for young musicians. She is a teaching artist for the Jazz Institute of Chicago’s Jazz Masters Residency Program in Chicago Public Schools, and serves on faculty at Birch Creek Music Academy for the Jazz I summer program. She directed the Wheaton College Jazz Ensemble from 2013-2022.
Katie holds a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies & Contemporary Media and a Bachelor of Musical Arts from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY where she studied double bass with Jeff Campbell and James VanDemark.
Jazz Institute of Chicago is proud to receive generous support from the following organizations
The Alphawood Foundation; a CityArts grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events; Crown Family Philanthropies; Chicago's Cultural Treasures; The Darling Family Foundation; The Ella Fitzgerald Foundation; The Epstein Family Foundation; The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly Foundation; The Fry Foundation; The Glossberg Foundation; The Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency; The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at Prince; The Mellon Foundation; The Polk Bros. Foundation; The Oppenheimer Family Foundation; The Walder Foundation; The Wang Family