Name: Jazz Links Jam Session
Start: 2026-02-11T17:00:00
Location: Dearborn Station

Jazz Showcase

Grammy Award-winning bassist Christian Dillingham is equally at home in two musical worlds. His parents spun jazz records around the house, while his mother was an avid pianist who loved to play Chopin and Debussy. These childhood experiences left a deep impression and ended up as the foundational philosophy of his career in music. Dillingham is that rare musician who excels in an orchestral setting, yet has an intuitive feel for nuance and the improvisational skills necessary to play jazz.

Christian Dillingham Quartet

Dearborn Station

Little Rock, Arkansas native Gabriel Wade is a versatile trumpeter, pianist, and educator with a rich performance history. He's shared the stage with iconic ensembles and artists such as the Count Basie Orchestra and Bobby Watson, and Chicago staples like the Clif Wallace Big Band, Tom Garling Jazz Orchestra, Marlene Rosenberg Quartet, and the Afro-Caribbean Jazz Collective. As a sideman, he's appeared at notable venues, colleges and festivals across the United States, including various colleges in Wyoming, Dazzle (Denver, CO), the Bop Stop (Cleveland, OH), Merriman's Playhouse (South Bend, IN), and the Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts (Milwaukee, WI), the Elmhurst Jazz Festival (Elmhurst, IL), and the Chicago Jazz Festival (Chicago, IL). As a bandleader, he has had the pleasure of performing on stages in Arkansas and Illinois, including Chicago's Fulton Street Collective, Andy's Jazz Club, and the Jazz Showcase.

Gabriel Wade Quintet

Julian Davis Reid (M.Div., Candler School of Theology) is a Black artist-theologian from Chicago whose work invites us to rejoice, lament, and hope together. A pianist, composer, producer, speaker, and writer, Julian is the founder of the ministry Notes of Rest®, a contemplative-musical experience that invites the weary to practice God’s transforming rest. A member of Emory University’s Alumni Class of 2025 40 under 40, Julian steadily releases and performs new music, this year having released Vocation, Notes of Rest Hymns Vol.1, and BEHOLD (with The JuJu Exchange). Julian is also the Artistic Director for Testify!, a project from Christian Theological Seminary that strengthens Christian witness in Black churches by reviving testimony traditions for contemporary practice. 

Julian Davis Reid - Circle of Trust

Jazz jam sessions have long been the place where musicians gather to connect, perform together, and hone their skills. Historically, jam sessions take place after-hours in the clubs, making it impossible for student musicians to participate. The Jazz Links Jam Session creates a live performance opportunity where student musicians can learn, grow, and connect with their jazz community.

Jazz Links Jam Session

Born on Chicago’s west side, DEE ALEXANDER is one of Chicago’s most gifted and respected female vocalist/songwriters. Her talents span every music genre, from Gospel to R&B and Blues to Neo-Soul, yet her true heart and soul are experienced through her performance of Jazz. Whether in a soft, sultry ballad or a scat-filled romp, she delivers with a passion for music that comes across in every note, and a grace that is truly her own. Alexander boasts long and fruitful associations with Chicago’s jazz elite, including Ramsey Lewis, Orbert Davis, Nicole Mitchell, Chicago Jazz Orchestra, and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). She leads her own Dee Alexander Quartet, as well as the Evolution Ensemble, whose music ranges from original compositions to renditions of James Brown and Jimi Hendrix. Her Jazz Institute of Chicago-commissioned tribute to Nina Simone and Dinah Washington, Sirens of Song, marked the beginning of worldwide recognition, and her performance on the Millennium Park Pritzker Pavilion stage launched a period of extensive touring in Europe. Alexander has received the Chicagoan of the Year in Jazz award and the 3Arts Award for Music. Her CD, Wild is the Wind, was named the album of the summer in France; earned her top votes in Downbeat’s Readers’ and Critics’ polls; received 5 stars in Downbeat; and was chosen as one of the magazine’s top ten recordings in the first decade of the new millennium. She has garnered accolades in African, Australian, European, and North American press. She is currently a host on the WFMT Jazz Radio Network.

Alexander Mclean Project

At the start of the Great Recession in September 2008, Petra's Recession Seven, an authentic Chicago-style jazz band was born at Chicago's legendary Green Mill. The seven piece ensemble is led by Petra van Nuis, a vocalist praised by the Chicago Tribune for her "interpretive savvy...light-and-silvery vocals and, better still, saucy manner of delivery that emphasizes the art of the double entendre."

Petra's Recession Seven

Bob Lark is recognized regionally, nationally and internationally as a contemporary jazz educator and performer of integrity.  His approach to pedagogy and rehearsal techniques has been noted by participation in professional conferences; publication of articles; compact disc recordings as both a performer and ensemble director; and the direction of numerous student honors ensembles.  Down Beat magazine recognized Bob’s work in 2010 with their Jazz Education Achievement Award.

Bob Lark

“K.I.M. (Keeping It Moving) is a genre-blending band led by Chicago bassist Jeremiah Hunt, fusing jazz, funk, soul, R&B, hip-hop, and more into a sound that’s fluid, bold, and deeply human. Whether it’s life, love, or the grind—K.I.M. is about pushing forward. With groove-driven performances and soul-charged compositions, this band isn’t just making music—they’re making motion.”

K.I.M

Julius Tucker is a pillar of Chicago’s jazz and creative music community—a pianist, composer, bandleader, and producer whose expansive artistry transcends genre boundaries. With a career spanning over 15 years, Tucker has solidified his reputation for masterful keyboard fluency, harmonic sophistication, and a multifaceted voice that moves effortlessly between jazz, improvised music, electronic experimentation, and beyond.

Julius Tucker Trio

WDCB 90.9FM - Steve Davis with UIC Jazz

Miguel de la Cerna is a powerhouse pianist, arranger, and composer who bridges the soul of jazz with the pulse of innovation.

Miguel de la Cerna Trio

A native of Louisville, Kentucky, saxophonist and educator Jarrard Harris attended the Youth Performing Arts School in high school and attended the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music to further his jazz studies. At CCM he studied with Rick VanMatre, Pat Harbison, and Marc Fields. Upon Graduation from CCM Harris moved to Chicago in 1998 to further his studies at DePaul University where under the tutelage of Bob Lark, Tim Coffman, and Marc Colby he earned his master’s degree in jazz studies. Harris currently lives in Chicago, where he is on the jazz faculty of Northwestern University, Columbia College Chicago and the City Colleges of Chicago. He also serves as the director of jazz studies with the Chicago Public Schools Advanced Arts Education Program at Gallery 37. He maintains an active private teaching studio in addition to adjudicating and performing at college and high school festivals, giving master classes, and lecturing, he has performed with musicians in the United States and abroad. Jarrard was a founding board member of the Jazz education Network and serves as a current board member for the Jazz Institute of Chicago.