13th Annual
Marshall Vente Jazz Festival
A festival of friends! January 19-22, 2006
Co-sponsored by 90.9fm WDCB Public Radio From College of DuPage Hosted by Joe and Wayne Segal's Jazz Showcase 59 W. Grand, Chicago, IL 60611 (312) 670-BIRD or (312) 670-2473

Thursday, January 19 @ 8:00 pm
Nick Tountas Trio Rich Corpolongo Quartet Marshall Vente Trio plus Bobby Schiff

Friday, January 20 @ 9:00 pm
Tropicale 2006 with Dill Costa and Greta Pope Jeff Newell Quartet, Bird in Paradise

Saturday, January 21 @ 9:00 pm
Marshall Vente and Project 9 with Greta Pope and Billy Harper Marc Courtney Johnson & the Dan Cray Trio

Sunday, January 22 @ 4:00 pm
No cover for children under 12 years with their parents! Marshall V
ente and Project 9 with Billy Harper

Cover charge per day: $20. - On Thurs/Sun and $25. - On Fri/ Sat Tickets are only available at the door.

For more information call (630) 968-3339
Visit www.MarshallVente.com & www.wdcb.org
Email

Duarte's vocal prowess highlights rhythmic journey
By Howard Reich, Tribune arts critic
January 18, 2004

The hottest locale in the chilly Midwest on Friday night had to be the Jazz Showcase, where an incendiary band persuaded a large audience to think of white Brazilian beaches and smoldering Havana nights. Though at least one listener still winces at the thought of a musician naming a festival after himself, there was no disputing the musical impact of the second evening of the annual Marshall Vente Jazz Festival. Certainly Vente, a terrific pianist and arranger, acquitted himself quite well leading his Tropicale Festival Ensemble.

The very sight of so many first-rate instrumentalists and vocalists crowded onto a single stage pointed to the significance of the occasion, for Vente surely spared no effort--or personnel--in his exploration of Afro-Caribbean and Brazilian jazz. With four percussionists, three horns, three vocalists and an assortment of other players before the microphones, the Tropicale band was equipped to address various facets of jazz invented south of the border.

The most galvanic performance by far came in a mambo tune by the venerable Cuban pianist-bandleader Chucho Valdes, who likely would have been impressed by the sheer muscularity and rhythmic aggressiveness of every phrase that Vente and friends played. If the tempo was a bit faster and the volume levels more intense than Valdes might have offered, the hard-hitting, Chicago-style energy of the performance could not be denied. In this piece, and others, tenor saxophonist Pat Mallinger turned in bebop-inspired playing that added to the dynamism of the corporate effort.

But the Tropicale band also showed a more genteel side, particularly in Brazilian music by Oscar Castro-Neves and Manfredo Fest. The more muted dynamic levels, transparent ensemble textures and gently undulating backbeats reaffirmed the band's stylistic mastery in this repertoire. Mallinger's flute playing proved particularly effective in music of Castro-Neves, the multi-instrumentalist's sweet tone and ample vibrato utterly appropriate to this idiom.

The most pleasant surprise of the evening came with the vocals of Rita Duarte, the newest member of Vente's ensemble. Her solos suggested a vocalist doubly blessed with an unusually evocative, amber-toned instrument and an uncommonly sensitive, utterly disarming way of using it. Though it's a fair bet that most in the audience did not understand a word of the Portuguese she sang, the warmth of her timbre and the understated beauty of her phrasings were unmistakable.

Vente has made a real find in Duarte, and the more time she spends at the front of this band, the better.

So chalk up another win for this annual fest, and here's hoping it warms up many more Januarys to come.

A new name, however, wouldn't hurt.

The Marshall Vente Jazz Festival ends with performances starting at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Jazz Showcase, 59 W. Grand Ave.; the lineup will feature the Bobby Schiff Trio and Marshall Vente and Project 9, with Billy Harper. Admission is $20; phone 312-670-2473.
Copyright (c) 2004, Chicago Tribune

January 20-23, 2005

12th Annual

Marshall Vente Jazz Festival
Focus on composer-arranger-performers. Co-sponsored by WDCB 90.9 FM Hosted by the

January 20 - 23, 2005

Thursday, January 20 @ 8:30 pm
Chicago Piano Forms – Winter Summit Co-sponsored by Southport Records, featuring solo pianists: Willie Pickens, George Flynn, Dave Gordon, Bradley-Parker Sparrow, Bobby Schiff, Bradley Young and Marshall Vente

Friday, January 21 @ 8:30 pm
Grupo Cha Cha Steve Eisen Quartet Tropicale

Saturday, January 22 @ 8:30 pm
Marshall Vente and Project 9 with Greta Pope Billy Harper John Mose Quartet

Sunday, January 23 @ 3:00 pm
No cover for children under 12 years with their parents! Janice Borla Group Marshall Vente and Project 9 with Billy Harper

Cover charge per day:
$20. - On Thurs/Sun
$25. - On Fri/ Sat

Tickets are only available at the door. For more information call (630) 968-3339 Visit www.MarshallVente.com & www.wdcb.org Email [email protected]

Jazz Showcase
59 W. Grand, Chicago
(312) 670-BIRD or (312) 670-2473

Additionally, Marshall creates special events and also shares expertise or "know how" with other presenters around the city.

Eldee Young, Marshall Vente and Isi Perez (drums)

Billy Harper and Project 9

Howard Levy

"Project 9" 20th year performance

1994 Jazz Festival Band Leaders (l to r) Marshall Vente, Alejo Poveda, Chip Gdalman, Steve Schneck, Scott Mason, Jeff Newell & Frank Mantooth

Here are a few quotes about our Jazz Festival

"Chillin":  Musicians from across the Midwest broke though Chicago's mid-winter chills to jam at the third annual Marshall Vente Jazz Festival, held at the Jazz Showcase." 

-Aaron Cohen, Downbeat

"Perhaps only a musician as talented, tenacious and ravenously ambitious as Marshall Vente could produce a festival of the sort that opened at the Jazz Showcase.  One would be hard pressed to name another Chicago performer who could conceive, organize and stage a jazz soiree running four days, covering 13 ensembles and featuring 78 musicians.  So if anyone deserves to name a jazz extravanganza after himself, perhaps it's Vente, who seemed possitively euphoric during the opening of the third annual Marshall Vente Jazz Festival.  Considering the artistic strength and the musical adventurousness of this evening.  Vente had every reason to be delighted."

-Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune Arts Critic

You may contact Marshall Vente 
by phone at: (630) 541-3381

Cell phone: (630) 430-5113

or by e-mail at

Marshall Vente 
P.O. Box 1135
Westmont, IL 60559