Over Labor Day weekend, the Bean hosted a surprise daily ritual. In the late afternoon, tourists gazing at the sculpture would be pulled away from their selfies by the raucous sound of a second-line band. The Windy City Ramblers — led by the bouncy trumpeter Mario Abney and, sometimes, his two pint-sized kids — would then process into Pritzker Pavilion. Throngs would follow them, like jerseyed Pied Pipers. Don’t be shy, the procession seemed to say. This is where you should be .

Welcome to the Chicago Jazz Festival, on locals’ calendars but often a happy discovery for the many holiday-weekend visitors who descend on our city. Those who stuck around Pritzker Pavilion got a primer in jazz and its many strains: its early days, embodied by reedist Natalie Scharf, stride pianist and sing

See Full Page