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Hyde Park Jazz Festival: Thaddeus Tukes and Ashley Jackson

A person holding two yellow vibraphone mallets

Thaddeus Tukes and Ashley Jackson perform in the Smart Museum’s courtyard as part of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, a weekend of free performances at cultural venues throughout the neighborhood.

FREE, open to all. 

Visit hydeparkjazzfestival.org for the complete schedule, safety guidelines, and other information.


The Musicians

Thaddeus Tukes - vibraphone
Ashley Jackson - harp

Among many distinctions, Thaddeus Tukes is a Luminarts fellow and recipient of the Vivian G. Harsh Emerging Artist Award. He has been featured at the Chicago Jazz Festival, Hyde Park Jazz Festival, and more. When he's not performing, Tukes is an educator, giving master classes and workshops to students from pre-Kindergarten through undergraduate. During his junior year at Whitney Young High School, Thaddeus was considered the top high school vibraphonist in the state by the Illinois Music Educators Association. As a senior, Thaddeus was featured at Carnegie Hall with his high school concert band. Thaddeus pioneered a jazz vibraphone degree program while also studying jazz piano at Northwestern University, where he attended the Bienen School of Music and Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. In journalism, Thaddeus was elected President of the National Association of Black Journalists-Northwestern University Chapter, and lead the organization to win National Student Chapter of the Year for the second time in the chapter’s history. Thaddeus also served on the executive board of the Associated Student Government. As Vice President of Diversity (now Accessibility) and Inclusion, Tukes collaborated with students, faculty, staff, and administration across campus in developing strategic plans to improve the student experience. Tukes also served on the Coalition of Colors, Northwestern’s multicultural community organizing board. Thaddeus currently resides in Chicago. 

Praised for her “soulful” and “eloquent” playing (Musical America), harpist Ashley Jackson enjoys a multifaceted career as a highly sought-after musician and collaborator in New York and beyond. As a soloist, she has performed at Lincoln Center, Celebrate Brooklyn! and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. She has also performed with the New York Philharmonic, Metropolis Ensemble, the Qatar Philharmonic, and is the principal harpist of NOVUS NY, the contemporary music orchestra of Trinity Wall Street led by Grammy-nominated conductor Julian Wachner. She is a member of the Harlem Chamber Players, with whom she has developed a number of projects, including her first film, In Song and Spirit and the Harlem Walking Tour Series. Throughout her academic and professional careers, Ashley has demonstrated a commitment to diversity and inclusion within higher education and the performing arts, firmly believing that a deeper understanding of cultural and ethnic diversity is critical to intellectual and artistic development. As a recipient of the Theodore Presser Award, she pursued her doctoral research on black female composer Margaret Bonds and her collaboration with Langston Hughes, and presented her findings in lectures at the Studio Museum of Harlem, WMP Concert Hall, and the University of North Carolina. Her research culminated in the release of the album, The Ballad of the Brown King and Selected Songs (Avie Records) on which she is a featured performer, as well as the author of the liner notes. Her speaking engagements have included “1960: Margaret Bonds and a Message for Civil Rights” (Juilliard), “Affinities: Margaret Bonds and Langston Hughes,” (Studio Museum of Harlem) and “Representation as Resistance: How an Activist Orchestra Redresses the Push-out of Black Practitioners from Classical Music” (Harvard University). As a writer, her works have appeared on NewMusicBox (“The Cultural Citizen: How Classical Music Got Me Woke") as well as in the International Journal of Women in Music (“Margaret Bonds and The Ballad of the Brown King: A Historical Overview”). She is currently an Assistant Professor and the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Music Department at Hunter College, where she teaches chamber music, harp, and courses such as the Arts in New York City. Ashley holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Juilliard School, a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University.