Another edition of the Chicago Jazz Festival is now history, and it was the best one ever. Here's how I spent the final two days at the festival:

SATURDAY: My day started out at noon with Bill McFarland & the Chicago Horns performing at the Jazz on Jackson stage. I stayed at Jazz on Jackson for the 1:10 show with Miguel de la Cerna before heading over to the Heritage Stage at 2:00 to catch Percussion Discussion with John Vidacovich. Typhanie Monique performed the 3:30 show at Heritage Stage. I spent the evening at the Petrillo stage with Dan Trudell's B3 Bombers kicking off the 5:00 show, The Cookers following at 6:00, Ernestine Anderson and Frank Wess performing at 7:10, and Charlie Haden and the Liberation Music Orchestra wrapping it up with the 8:30 show.

SUNDAY: I started the final day of the festival with another noon show at Jazz on Jackson featuring the Pete Benson Organ Trio. I stayed at Jackson for the other three shows as well: the Mark Courtney Johnson Quintet at 1:10; Astral Project at 2:30; and the Windy City Jam with Charlie Haden at 3:30. Then I went over to the Petrillo Stage at 5:00 for the final four shows, starting with Revisiting the Apex Club with Kim Cusack and John Otto, then continuing with Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra featuring Bill Dixon at the 6:00 show and Horizon at the 7:10 show, before finishing with the Mingus Big Band at 8:30. All in all, it was another fantastic festival, and I can't wait to go back next year! If anything, this will go down in history as one of the best ever, and a lot of people had fun attending. I know I did, and I'm sure it'll get lots of positive reviews in the Chicago Tribune.

Don't forget: Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of the Chicago Jazz Festival. As I said before, if you really love jazz, then this is the "it" event for you. Make plans to come to the Windy City next year for the premiere jazz festival in the Midwest. You'll be glad you did!