Glen Ellyn jazz fest a draw despite weather threat

The forecast in downtown Glen Ellyn Saturday wasn't hazy at all, despite the darkening skies and light, rainy mist that threatened an otherwise pleasant midafternoon.

By 2 p.m., a few hundred people had gathered on Main Street south of the train tracks, clearly expecting an afternoon and evening filled with cool, smooth, traditional and big-band style jazz, courtesy of the second annual Jazz Fest Glen Ellyn.

"I myself like Henry Johnson," said fest-goer Terry Smith, of Chicago, who stood in the midst of a tangle of camp chairs where she and her friends from Hyde Park planned to listen. "I just heard him and I said, 'I need to hear him again.' It's very melodic, it's smooth. I don't really use terms like contemporary. It's just great jazz."

Smith said her friends are more into the Willie Pickens Trio, described by Roland Raffel, marketing coordinator for the College of DuPage's McAninch Arts Center, as a pianist with an impressive resume.

"He's played with all the greats. He's going to kind of be going into straightforward jazz," said Raffel.

Raffel said the arts center, along with the college's public radio station, WDCB, the Glen Ellyn Chamber of Commerce and the Karnes Prickett Design firm worked together to bring the festival to Main Street for the second consecutive year.

"The intent of the program is to bring people downtown so you can see the stores that we have, enjoy the music and some really interesting food," said Mike Formento, chamber executive director. "We're expecting to have about 2,500 people attend this event during the course of the seven hours."

Formento said organizers decided to build a festival around jazz, a musical genre not often highlighted at suburban summer festivals, in response to public demand.

"We wanted to kind of distinguish ourselves from other festivals," said Raffel. "The demographic of the kind of person who listens to jazz is the kind of person we wanted to have come here."

Before another group, Mulligan Mosaics, began their set, Bob Brennan of Glen Ellyn was relaxing in a camp chair while his wife, Luanne, and their friend, Nancy Lenz of Naperville, mingled with the preshow crowd.

"I love music," said Brennan. "I came here last year to the first one and I enjoyed it. I thought it was very nice. I'm not surprised they're doing it again."