At Fulton Street Collective on Monday, October 26, a group of musicians—some who’d been strangers as recently as six months prior—gathered to play a livestreamed concert that would also be their first recording as a band. They had played together for most of the summer without a name, but by late September they’d chosen one: the Chicago Freedom Ensemble.
During the Fulton Street Collective session, which doubled as a livestream, Tukes used a small silver megaphone to croon “You about to lose your job!” at a disappointing but hypothetical public servant, singing with a big smile on his face. (At the time, he had no way of knowing for certain that the worst American public servant in living memory was about to lose his job.) He has such a captivating energy as a conductor and bandleader that it feels impossible not to dance alongside him.
“Jazz is community music,” he says. “Without community, you don’t have jazz.”
The Chicago Freedom Ensemble’s lineup is multiracial, and Tukes acknowledges the large percentage of white members. He doesn’t see this as compromising the group’s role in the fight for Black lives.
