Event Details
Jazz Fans! Join us for the “Donovan’s Garage” Season 3 Finale and Jam Session! It’s going to be an enthusiastic end to a fine year of the great Chicago Jazz that “Donovan’s Garage” brings to Evanston.
See for yourself why Donovan Mixon, founder of the jazz series was honored with the Mayor’s Award for the Arts in 2025.
The show begins at 7pm on Tuesday, June 23 at the AKAR Auditorium, 2715 Hurd Avenue in Evanston (Across the street from Willard School).
Headlining the event will be The Afro-Latino Quintet, winners of the “Donovan’s Garage” audience poll as the favorite session of the season, returning for another explosive evening at the AKAR.
Members of the quintet are:
Donovan Mixon—guitar
Joshua Ramos--bass
Rocky Yera - tenor sax
Darwin Noguerra – piano
Juan Pastor—drums and percussion
Read about each of the players at www.donovanmixon.com
Then the evening opens up into a full alumni jam session featuring past “Donovan’s Garage” performers from across the first three seasons. Mixon says to “expect surprise combinations, unexpected musical conversations and the joyful unpredictability that define the “Garage” experience.”
See a list of all those alumni at www.donovanmixon.com
Come and join the fun! There will be balloons, celebration vibes and tasty bites prepared by a local chef. As with all “Donovan’s Garage” events, the show is free. Families are welcome. Donations are gratefully accepted.
Curious about “Donovan’s Garage”? Here’s the backstory.
In his “Donovan’s Garage” jazz events, Evanston’s Donovan Mixon, a prominent jazz guitarist in the Chicago jazz scene, brings top Chicago jazz artists to Evanston for the free “Donovan’s Garage” shows. Mixon launched the series in the garage behind his Evanston home to provide a creative outlet for his many jazz musician friends during the Covid years. The informal shows drew socially-spaced audiences to the alley by his garage, the start of a fan base that has followed him to the AKAR Auditorium in Evanston for a series of jazz events that to date has brought more than 80 top Chicago jazz musicians to Evanston.
It is work that won Mixon the Mayor’s Award for the Arts in 2025.
“Now it’s time for a show that pulls it all together” says Mixon.