Free and open to the public

Open 10am–4:30pm

 
Skip navigation

Hyde Park Jazz Festival: Thaddeus Tukes & Isaiah Collier Duo

Thaddeus Tukes

Thaddeus Tukes and Isaiah Collier perform at the Smart as part of the tenth annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival, a weekend of free performances at cultural venues throughout the neighborhood.  

About the performers

Called “one of the freshest voices on the vibraphone in years,” Thaddeus Tukes, a recent graduate of Northwestern University with a dual degree concentration in Jazz Studies and Journalism and a graduate of Whitney Young H.S., is a highly skilled vibraphonist and pianist who has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York and Symphony Center in Chicago. He earned top Jazz Vibraphonist in Illinois among high schools; received the Luminarts Jazz Fellowship; studied with Ravinia Jazz Scholars; won the Kiewitt-Wang Scholarship from the Jazz Institute of Chicago; and was a winner of Fidelity FutureStage Young Artists competition during his years at Whitney Young Magnet High School. Thaddeus has played at various Chicago locations including the Chicago Jazz Festival, Fitzgerald’s, Ravinia, Room 43, Millennium Park, Jazz Showcase, Andy’s Jazz Club, and Buddy Guy’s Legends. Some of his mentors include Victor Goines, Jeremy Kahn, Marlene Rosenberg, Jarrard Harris, Willie Pickens, Pat Mallinger, Ernie Adams, Bobby Broom, Joan Collaso, Roger Harris, Wycliffe Gordon, and Gerald Powell.

A graduate of ChiArts High School and first year student at the Brubeck Institute in Stockton, CA, saxophonist Isaiah Collier has been turning heads in Chicago since his parents encouraged him to learn to read and play instruments fluently. Isaiah won the Kiewitt-Wang Award (2013) from the Jazz Institute of Chicago and has toured with Bobby Watson in Texas. He is a member of his family jazz band where he performs with his father, mother and two brothers. He has played with Joan Collaso, Charles Heath, Victor Goines, James Perkins, Bobby Broom, Ernie Adams, Robert Irving III, and Joshua Ramos in venues such as the Jazz Showcase, the Du Sable Museum, Jazz in the Courtyard, Room 43, Operation Push Convention, and Café Logan. Isaiah has played at the Jazz Showcase with the Thelonious Monk Institute National Performing Arts High School All-Star Jazz Quintet led by saxophonist Antonio Hart, receiving praise from Howard Reich as “the standout.”

Video