Chill out with jazz on the terrace of the Museum of Contemporary Art
Jazz gave birth to cool - and it is no wonder that a place as hip as the Museum of Contemporary Art would create "Tuesdays on the Terrace: Live Jazz Outdoors."
The concept itself is revolutionary," says Angelique Power, director of marketing.
Power describes the museum as a "multiuse facility or cultural center." The museum displays exhibits, while housing a theater where it hosts performance art. How then to represent the slickness that is the MCA tossed into a blender with what is Chicago? Simple - jazz.
Jazz evokes a stereotypical image of a smoky, dimly lit lounge, heavy velvet curtains, and whispering people in the minds of most. Tuesdays on the Terrace is anything but the jazz stereotype!
Entering the slick, modern foyer of the MCA, you are instantly cooled with a blast of A/C that kicks off the city grime. Refreshed you can mingle with the latest exhibits, stop at Puck's Express Counter for a nosh, or head on out to the Anne and John Kern Terrace and enjoy the scene.
The terrace proper is sectioned into two dining areas, and a few rows of, "I'm here just for the jazz" seats planted right in front of the band.
Tables are generously spread out over the dining area, reserved for those opting to indulge in the buffet dinner. Crisp white table cloths, smiling and friendly wait staff, a gracious wine and drink menu and surprisingly good food - this option would be my suggestion. Make sure you reserve ahead, it seems a lot of people dig the dining space.
Just on the other side of the terrace is the sprawling sculpture garden where anyone may pitch a blanket, snack on some of Puck's created snacks, let the kids wind down and just take in the scene and the music at their own pace.
Tuesdays on the Terrace, hosted by local radio personalities, has been running annually since 2002. With an average of about 1,000 people attending the event each Tuesday, many of them dedicated, returning fans, I just had to ask, "What keeps bringing people back?"
"It is the complete Chicago experience. It's contemporary art in its many facets," says returning attendee Jim DeJong.
Norm and Michele Klien think it is the "only series in town where the artists are A-1 top of the jazz scene. They reach into all of the areas of jazz."
While the band is, as Power puts it, the crowd's "audio wallpaper," the city seems to be the band's wallpaper of sorts. It plays off, to, and with the city. Fire truck sirens accompany the saxophone, and buses hum along with the bass.
On the night that I attended, the sweet sounds of Ari Brown were more than music to my ears. The third song of the first set, entitled "Venus," was infused with rich Latin undertones that had my foot tapping out rhythms of which I didn't even know it was capable.
Tuesdays on the Terrace serves a multitude of purposes. Jazz aficionados get to sit back and enjoy some of the finest jazz in the city; neophytes get an introduction to the music in a warm, inviting, nonconfusing, and unpretentious setting; and it serves as a perfect after-work happy hour to get together with friends. Museum goers, walk-ins from the surrounding streets, and locals sitting on their decks, all who just happen to hear the sweet notes on the breeze, get to be treated to some top-notch jazz.
The exhibits remain open during the event so patrons can wander in and out to enjoy the visual art, or cool themselves off during the warmer months.
While you won't be seeing that image of the smoky lounge here, what you are sure to see are a lot of ear-to-ear smiles, tapping feet, bobbing heads and random bouts of laughter. But it is all par for the course. This is, after all, Tuesdays on the Terrace.
In this calm oasis, Chicago is reflected.
Museum of Contemporary Art
220 East Chicago Ave., Chicago
(312) 280-2660
Event run: June 3 to Sept. 30
Time: 5:30 to 8 p.m.
Admission: Free
Dinner: $16.50 buffet or al la carte option
Drinks: Cash bar available
Parking: Garage at museum; call (312) 986-3120