Chicago’s summer concert season kicks off on Memorial Day with the opening of Millennium Park’s popular cutting-edge indie rock and pop music series, Downtown Sound: New Music Mondays.  Premiering a week later is Millennium Park’s all-new program, Loops and Variations, a series of six concerts that mix new music with electronica.

"I revere Duke Ellington, but I didn't want this to be a reverent album," Joe Jackson says of The Duke, his new tribute to American jazz giant Ellington.True to Jackson's word, The Duke is a decidedly unconventional salute to Ellington, demonstrating the timeless brilliance of his classic compositions while showcasing Jackson's sublime skills as an arranger, instrumentalist and vocal interpreter.

Billy Martin and Wil Blades wanna make you Shimmy. The organ/drums duo waste no time getting right down to it on their debut album due May 22 from The Royal Potato Family in collaboraton with Martin's own Amulet Records. Martin and Blades go old school in the tradition of essential organ-groove sides by the likes of Charles Earland, Brother Jack McDuff and Groove Holmes.

Critically acclaimed jazz-rock guitarist Jake Hertzog is at the Somethin’ Jazz Club for some extreme jazz!  At only 25 years old, Hertzog is one of the most original and exciting new voices on the scene.

The 13th Annual Central Brooklyn Jazz Festival-Jazz: A Music of the Spirit, March 30 until April 30, 2012 presented by the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium.  This music series is New York City's longest continuously running grassroots festival dedicated to jazz.  More than 500 artists will be performing in 40 events at venues from Coney Island to Williamsburg in Brooklyn.  For information contact CBJC at 718.773.2252 or info@cbjcjazz.org. Brooklyn jazz has a rich past and its legacy is celebrated every April

This March, The National Jazz Museum in Harlem continues to offer a wide range of top quality free programming and affordable concerts from jazz’s most celebrated musicians, educators and historians. For Harlem Speaks, our flagship public program of oral histories, we have two brilliant and fresh voices on the scene: pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist Ben Williams.

He’s been called “a revelation” by Rolling Stone. Woody Allen recruited him to score the theme for last year’s smash film Midnight in Paris, and he performed his original song “Bistro Fada” live during last night’s Academy Awards ceremony.

To followers of 20th century British music, Chris Barber needs no introduction: The trombonist and bass player is the pre-eminent name in British trad jazz. A fixture on the British music scene since the early 1950s, he has led a number of excellent bands and can be heard alongside countless world-class players, a title he can surely also claim for himself.

MARCOS VALLE is one of the major songwriters of Brazilian Popular music with songs recorded by Sarah Vaughan, Jay-Z, Diana Krall, Chicago, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck, Toots Thielemans, Joe Pass, Astrud Gilberto, Bebel Gilberto, Sergio Mendes to name a few.

The Jazz Committee, Midtown Arts Common at Saint Peter’s Church, will present“Prez Fest 2012 – Celebrating Dizzy Gillespie.” The festival takes place on Sunday, March 4 with a panel discussion on Dizzy Gillespie at 3:30 PM, Jazz Vespers at 5 PM and Concert at 7:30 PM “From Big Band to Bebop to Afro Cuban – The Music of Dizzy Gillespie” includes Dizzy’s celebratory Afro  Latin pieces for big band, arrangements of classic pieces for big band and small ensemble as well as Dizzy Gillespie-inspired compositions.Donald L.