Name: Bob Lark
Start: 2026-03-25T20:00:00
Location: Dearborn Station

Chicago is set to transform into a jazz lover's haven with a series of captivating performances from some of the most revered names in the jazz world today. The Jazz Showcase will host an eclectic mix from the Christian Dillingham Quartet to Gabriel Wade Quintet, Julian Davis Reid's introspective Circle of Trust, and the genre-blending K.I.M. These events promise to highlight the rich tapestry of jazz, providing audiences the opportunity to experience a wide array of musical styles, all under the welcoming roof of Dearborn Station.

Jazz in Chicago: A Vibrant Celebration of Diverse Musical Expressions

In 2026, the Jazz Showcase is set to present an array of performances that will captivate jazz enthusiasts and cultural aficionados in Chicago. Featuring both seasoned veterans and emerging talents, the lineup includes the soulful Dee Alexander, Grammy Award-winning bassist Christian Dillingham, and the unique Sabertooth Organ Quartet, among others. These events promise to bring the timeless sounds of jazz into contemporary relevance, offering a blend of classical and modern styles that reflect the diverse musical landscape of today. Join us as we explore the detailed offerings of this exciting musical season.

Jazz Showcase Prepares an Exciting Lineup of Musical Excellence in 2026

Bob Lark

Jazz Showcase

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.

Dearborn Station

One of the world’s preeminent jazz innovators, trombonist and seashellist Steve Turre, has consistently won both the Readers’ and Critics’ polls in JazzTimes, Downbeat, and Jazziz for Best Trombone and for Best Miscellaneous Instrumentalist (shells). Turre was born to Mexican-American parents and grew up in the San Francisco Bay area where he absorbed daily doses of mariachi, blues and jazz. While attending Sacramento State University, he joined the Escovedo Brothers salsa band, which began his career-long involvement with that genre.

Steve Turre Quintet

Roosevelt University CCPA

The NIU Jazz Ensemble is the Laboratory Jazz Big Band at NIU. This group performs advanced and intermediate material covering a wide variety of jazz styles, including new works composed and/or arranged by NIU faculty and students.

NIU Jazz Ensemble

A Chicago native, Isabella is an actor, vocalist, pianist, music director, and conductor who has had the great honor of sharing her artistry on stage and screen both at home and internationally.

Isabella Isherwood Quartet

In describing the Black music tradition, Pharoah Sanders once remarked to Bernice Johnson Reagon “to me, it’s all spiritual music.” The musical journey from blues to gospel and “jazz” and back is more natural than these categorical separations can ever be. Like the great practitioners of the blues and gospel, Joel Ross is interested in the story, in the way that it can reveal the divine promise that life need not forever be what it has been. His chosen medium is a sextet. His message is love others and sacrifice the self. Service to others is the best way to live love and to be Christlike. Gospel Music is service music. Service is what we call worship. “Playing an instrument is a form of worship, and I’ve been worshipping all my life,” said Dizzy Gillepsie. And like Diz, Ross is committed to worship, represented in and through his music.

Joel Ross

Dan Kaufman has emerged as a leading and promising young voice in Jazz Piano. Dan’s playing is adventurous and dynamic while firmly rooted in the jazz tradition. As a versatile and sensitive sideman , he has performed for audiences around the world, with many of the most prominent figures in jazz. From Jimmy Heath, Wynton Marsalis, Christian McBride and Mark Turner. He is also an accomplished composer and arranger.

Dan Kaufman Trio

Julián Pujols Quall is a Dominican-American pianist and keyboardist, improviser, composer and educator from Chicago who has performed classical and jazz repertoire throughout the continental United States as well as in the Dominican Republic, Spain, Belgium, Puerto Rico and Mexico. A classically trained artist, Peabody Conservatory graduate, and DePaul University National Concerto Competition for Young Performers First Prize Winner, their work has found a home in jazz performance, improvisation and cross-cultural collaboration since developing experimental collaborative programs as a founding member of the Peabody Improvisers Collective. They are a curator for the Discoveries Hear & Be Heard series at Fulcrum Point New Music Project, and a 2025 National Association of Latino Arts and Culture Institute Fellow. Julián has been lead instructor for the Afro-Caribbean Jazz Combo at the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center After School Matters and is currently an accompanist at The Joffrey Ballet’s Grainger Academy. They are the host of “The Changes”, a trilingual interview show presenting local and international musicians on Lumpen Radio. Julián completed a 2024 Banff Center for the Arts Jazz and Sonic Arts composition/performance residency, released the single Rothko; Tlaloc and Totec with Carrier Records in 2023, and most recently had their compositions Chord Prelude and Moriviví premiere at the DiMenna Center for New and Classical Music during the 2024 Yarn/Wire Institute Festival in New York.

Julián and Friends

Wdcb 90.9fm

Boasting a warm, finely burnished tone and a robust melodic and harmonic imagination, tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander has been exploring new musical worlds from the outset. He started out on piano as a six-year-old, took up clarinet at nine, switched to alto sax when he was 12, and converted to tenor when jazz became his obsession during his one year at the University of Indiana, Bloomington (1986-87). At William Paterson College in New Jersey he advanced his studies under the tutelage of Harold Mabern, Joe Lovano, Rufus Reid, and others. "The people I listened to in college are still the cats that are influencing me today," says Alexander. "Monk, Dizzy, Sonny Stitt, Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson--the legacy left by Bird and all the bebop pioneers, that language and that feel, that's the bread and butter of everything I do. George Coleman remains a big influence because of his very hip harmonic approach, and I'm still listening all the time to Coltrane because I feel that even in the wildest moments of his mid- to late-Sixties solos I can find these little kernels of melodic information and find ways to employ them in my own playing."

Eric Alexander & Vincent Herring Quintet

Jimmy Farace is a dedicated baritone saxophonist whose rich, resonant tone brings the beauty of the instrument to the forefront. A thoughtful composer and improviser, Farace creates music that is deeply human, exploring experiences everyone can relate to - growing pains, nostalgia, joy, and the small moments that shape our lives. With an unwavering belief in the instrument’s ability to tell profound musical stories, Farace has earned praise from some of jazz’s finest voices. DownBeat Magazine hailed him as “an outstanding new voice on baritone saxophone.” Saxophone legend Gary Smulyan observed: “His baritone playing is deeply emotional, mature, and his sound simply gorgeous. The combination of the writing and playing is stunning, wonderfully conceived, and in perfect balance and harmony.”

Jimmy Farace

An esteemed saxophonist, vocalist, and accomplished composer, Camille Thurman is one of the leading young standard bearers of jazz, making a considerable and dynamic contribution to its legacy. She is known for her creative brilliance, effortless mastery, and undeniably distinct approach to music as both a powerhouse vocalist and saxophonist.

Bob Lark

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