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City Life, Public Service Announcement Apr 16, 2021
Video
Reset your mind with cherry blossoms

Upcoming events and recommendations from our listings coordinator
- By Salem Collo-Julin
- Tags: Public Service Announcement, cannabis, Precious Blood, cherry blossom trees, nature, Jackson Park, Chicago Park District, Ari Brown, Jazz Showcase, Garfield Park, Lincoln Park, mental health, Voices Embodied, Zhou B Center, Natalie Moore, south side, Video

Music, Music Review Aug 25, 2020
Recommended
The Awakening’s reissue of 1972’s Hear, Sense and Feel still uplifts through jazz and R&B
- By Aaron Cohen
- Tags: Music Review, Real Gone Music, The Awakening, Hear, Sense, and Feel, AACM, Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, Black Jazz, Ken Cheney, Frank Gordon, Young-Holt Unlimited, Ari Brown, Steve Galloway, Reggie Willis, Mirage, Angel Bat Dawid, Recommended

Music, Gossip Wolf Nov 5, 2019
Video
Bill MacKay and Katinka Kleijn document their dynamic duo with an album

Plus: Friends band together to help Jazz Showcase founder Joe Segal with medical bills, and power-pop veteran Jeff Lescher of Green celebrates a new solo record.
- By J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil
- Tags: Gossip Wolf, Bill MacKay, Katinka Kleijn, Stir, Drag City, Elastic Arts, Timothy Breen, Hermine, Brett Naucke, Jazz Showcase, Joe Segal, benefit, fund-raiser, Dee Alexander, Ari Brown, Joey DeFrancesco, Studebaker Theater, Henry Johnson, Jeff Lescher, Green, Indiegogo, All Is Grace, Outta Space, Jason Mosher, Video

Music, Music Feature Sep 30, 2019
Slideshow
Photos: The Hyde Park Jazz Festival

The south side’s own world-class jazz fest played host to dozens of shows and more than a hundred musicians.
- By Philip Montoro and Michael Jackson
- Tags: Music Feature, Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Hyde Park Jazz Society, photos, Logan Center for the Arts, University of Chicago, Hyde Park, jazz, Angel Bat Dawid, Requiem for Jazz, Isaiah Collier, The Story of 400 Years, Karuna, Hamid Drake, Adam Rudolph, Mary Halvorson, MacArthur, Sylvie Courvoisier, Greg Ward, Ambrose Akinmusire, Amir ElSaffar, Tia Fuller, Dana Hall, Spring, Dee Alexander, Maggie Brown, Sam Trump, Orbert Davis, Ari Brown, Juan Pastor, Pharez Whitted, Project Tool, Tito Carillo, Nick Mazzarella, Quin Kirchner, Tia Fuller, Kate Dumbleton, Slideshow

Music, Music Feature Aug 27, 2019
Video
Mike Reed honors the modern golden age of Chicago jazz

The bandleader and drummer assembles an ensemble of composer-performers from The City Was Yellow, a “real book” documenting 30 years of the city’s jazz scene.
- By Bill Meyer
- Tags: Music Feature, Mike Reed, The City Was Yellow, Chicago Jazz Festival, Jazz Festival, Jazz Institute of Chicago, JIC, Hyde Park Jazz Festival, real book, Ari Brown, Geof Bradfield, Jeff Parker, Nicole Mitchell, Rob Mazurek, Steve Berry, Matt Ulery, Video

Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Jul 2, 2019
Video
Drummer Kahil El’Zabar elevates groove to a transcendent plane

The leader of the Ritual Trio and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble is also a teacher, a connector, and an ambassador for Afrocentric jazz.
- By Steve Krakow
- Tags: The Secret History of Chicago Music, Kahil El'Zabar, drummer, percussionist, jazz, African, Afrocentric, avant-garde, Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, Ritual Trio, Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, AACM, Be Known, Be Known: Ancient/Future/Music, Malachi Favors, Billy Bang, Nina Simone, Poi Dog Pondering, Sonia Dada, Dizzy Gillespie, Cannonball Adderley, Archie Shepp, Pharaoh Sanders, Ghana, University of Ghana, Ari Brown, Corey Wilkes, JUBA Collective, Mo’ Money, Love Jones, How U Like Me Now, Rituals, Traffic, Steppenwolf, Video

Music, Music Feature Apr 17, 2019
Video
Natural Information Society make the stage a home—and vice versa

Joshua Abrams and Lisa Alvarado help give this Chicago collective’s transcendent minimalism a family feeling.
- By Bill Meyer
- Tags: Music Feature, Natural Information Society, Joshua Abrams, Mandatory Reality, Simultonality, guimbri, gimbri, guembri, sintir, Gnawa, Lisa Alvarado, Eremite Records, Drag City, Thrill Jockey, Don Cherry, Hamid Drake, Nicole Mitchell, Mike Reed, Prefuse 73, Roots, Dave Rempis, Will Oldham, Steve James, Kartemquin Films, The Interrupters, Life Itself, America to Me, Bridget Donahue, Ari Brown, Monika Cherry, Moki Cherry, Ornette Coleman, Organic Music Society, Bitchin Bajas, Jason Stein, Ben LaMar Gay, Mikel Patrick Avery, Frank Rosaly, Emmett Kelly, Ben Boye, Nick Mazzarella, Fred Anderson, From the River to the Ocean, Bindu, Natural Information, Jason Adasiewicz, Nori Tanaka, harmonium, Represencing, Magnetoception, Jeff Parker, Autoimaginary, Constellation, Finite, Electrical Audio, In Memory’s Prism, Simon Starling, Project for a Rift Valley Crossing, Frieze New York, Video

Music, Pitchfork Jul 16, 2018
Video
Pitchfork outflanks its festival competition with left-field bookings

Circuit des Yeux, Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society, Irreversible Entanglements, and This Is Not This Heat don’t sell tickets like Fleet Foxes, but they help keep Pitchfork interesting.
- By Peter Margasak
- Tags: Pitchfork, Pitchfork, Pitchfork Music Festival, 2018, 2018 Pitchfork Music Festival, Union Park, Circuit des Yeux, Haley Fohr, Reaching for Indigo, Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society, Joshua Abrams, guimbri, Gnawa, Simultonality, Ben Boye, Lisa Alvarado, Emmett Kelly, Frank Rosaly, Mikel Avery, Ari Brown, Irreversible Entanglements, Moor Mother, Camae Ayewa, Keir Neuringer, Luke Stewart, Tcheser Holmes, Aquiles Navarro, This Heat, This Is Not This Heat, Charles Hayward, Deceit, Health and Efficiency, Gareth Williams, Charles Bullen, Thurston Moore, Alexis Taylor, Hot Chip, Chris Cutler, Video

Music, Music Feature Jul 23, 2014
Will Chicago's most daring and virtuosic jazz singer finally get the recognition she deserves?

Dee Alexander has earned international acclaim, but fame has eluded her. Her great new album, Songs My Mother Loves, might change that.
- By David Whiteis
- Tags: Music Feature, Dee Alexander, jazz, jazz singers, albums, Ben Ratliff, New York Times, 2013 Newport Jazz Festival, Bluejazz, DownBeat, CDs, Chicago Tribune, Ella Fitzgerald, 2012 Chicago Jazz Festival, Chicago Jazz Festival, Ken Chaney Xperience, Baba Eli Hoenai, Henry Huff, UIC, University of Illinoi, University of Illinois at Chicago, Kennedy Center, Chicago Jazz Orchestra, Howard Mandel, Jazz Journalists Association, Corey Wilkes, Ernest Dawkins, Miguel de la Cerna, Kickstarter, crowdfunding, 3Arts Foundation, 3AP, stipends, Greg Pasenko, Oliver Lake, recording, Columbia College, Rita Warford, Iqua Colson, AACM, Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, Obie Creed, Progressive Arts Center, Prada Ensemble, Breath, Douglas Ewart, Mankwe Ndosi, R. Kelly, Delmark, Malachi Thompson, HotHouse, Hyde Park Art Center, Yussef Ernie Adams, Harrison Bankhead, bands, Tomeka Reid, Scott Hesse, Junius Pau, Evolution Arkestra, Ari Brown, Corey Wilkes, World Saxophone Quartet, Oliver Lake, Lillstreet Art Center, jazz songs, jazz standards, University of Chicago, Logan Center for the Arts, College of DuPage, McAninch Arts Center, MCA, Museum of Contemporary Art

Music, In Rotation Feb 10, 2014
In Rotation: Jake Austen of Roctober on a sitar cover of the Banana Splits

Plus: WHPK's Mario Smith on a J Dilla orchestra, the Reader's Philip Montoro on microtonal black metal, and more
- By Philip Montoro
- Tags: In Rotation, Philip Montoro, Jake Austen, Mario Smith, Jute Gyte, snow, squeaks, The Whammies, Constellation, Roctober, Chic-a-Go-Go, The Goblins, Magnetic South, cassettes, Nadya Gruen, Bob Gruen, videos, DVDs, film, Ike Turner, Tina Turner, HPSJ, Hyde Park Jazz Society, Ari Brown, Dee Alexander, John Wright, jazz, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Carlos Niño, Ma Dukes Orchestra, J Dilla, James Dewitt Yancey, orchestras, Tortoise, Thrill Jockey, Avery R. Young, records, albums, Tina M. Howell, Ugochi, Douglas Ewart, Leroy Bach, Room 43, DJs, masked bands, Sir Deja Doog, Wee Giant, sitar, covers, compilations

Music, Music Feature Aug 27, 2013
Thursday and Friday: 2013 Chicago Jazz Festival according to Reader writers

Jack DeJohnette, Wadada Leo Smith, Hamid Drake, and others highlight the first two days of Jazz Fest.
- By Peter Margasak, John Corbett, and Bill Meyer
- Tags: Music Feature, 35th annual Chicago Jazz Fest, T.S. Galloway, Dudley Owens, Irvin Pierce, Rajiv Halim Orozco, Mwata Bowden, Corey Wilkes, Larry Bowen, Pharez Whitted, Audrey Morrison, Norman Palm, Willie Woods, Larry Gray, Robert Irving III, Geof Bradfield, 2013 Chicago Jazz Festival, Melba!, Ryan Cohan, Joel Adams, Mike Allemana, Clark Sommers, George Fludas, Wadada Leo Smith's Ten Freedom Summers, Golden Quartet, Pacifica Red Coral, Jesse Gilbert, Anthony Davis, John Lindberg, Pheeroan Aklaff, Randolph Cafe, Alison Bjorkedal, Charles Lloyd, Bill Frisell, Chicago Cultural Center, Corylus, Mankwe Ndosi, AACM, Edward Wilkerson Jr., Darius Savage, JoVia Armstrong, Fat Babies, Beau Sample, Alex Hall, Jake Sanders, Paul Asaro, Dave Bock, John Otto, Andy Schumm, Jon Doyle, Randy Weston, Claudia Cassidy Theater, Larry Gray Trio, John Moulder, Charles Heath, Harrison Bankhead Sextet, Preston Bradley Hall, Hinda Hoffman Trio, Ron Perrillo, Dennis Carroll, Garland Room, What Is This Thing Called "Jazz"?, Paul Wertico, The Rhythm Method, Roosevelt University, Hamid Drake's Chicago Trio, Ernest Dawkins, Jack DeJohnette, Muhal Richard Abrams, Larry Gray, Roscoe Mitchell, Henry Threadgill, Von Freeman Pavilion, George Freeman, Christopher McBride Quartet, Marquis Hill, Jeff Swanson, Michael Lough, Xavier Breaker, Ben Paterson Organ Quartet, Hammond B-3, George Fludas, Kyle Asche, Victor Garcia, Miguel de la Cerna Quartet, Hyde Park Jazz Society, Ari Brown, Avreaayl Ra, Mike Smith Quartet, Jordan Baskin, Jeff Hamann, Brian Ritter, Hamid Drake, Michael Zerang, Eigen Aoki, Tsukasa Taiko, Tatsu Aoki, Ken Chaney, Young-Holt Unlimited, Pritzker Pavilion, Chicago Cultural Center, Randolph Cafe, Claudia Cassidy Theater, Chicago Cultural Center, Preston Bradley Hall, Chicago Cultural Center, Garland Room, Chicago Cultural Center

Music, Music Sidebar Sep 25, 2012
Hyde Park Jazz Festival

Miguel Zenon, Wycliffe Jordon, and dozens of other cats flood Hyde Park
- By Luca Cimarusti
- Tags: Music Sidebar, Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Miguel Zenon, Jason Adasiewicz, Pharaz Whitted, Dee Alexander, Ari Brown, Eric Schneider, Wycliffe Gordan, Greg Spero

Blogs, Bleader Sep 14, 2012
Video
Monday: celebrating Von Freeman

On Monday the Jazz Showcase hosts a tribute to the late Von Freeman that features his band from the New Apartment Lounge
- By Peter Margasak
- Tags: Music, Post No Bills, Von Freeman, New Apartment Lounge, Jazz Showcase, Chicago jazz, Mike Allemana, Michael Rayor, Matt Ferguson, Willie Pickens, Ari Brown, Art Hoyle, Dan Anderson, Christopher McBride, George Freeman, Video

Blogs, Bleader Dec 7, 2011
Tenor saxophonists Wilkerson and Brown blow into Hamilton Park on Friday

Local tenor heavies Edward Wilkerson Jr. and Ari Brown visit Hamilton Park for a free Friday show.
- By Peter Margasak
- Tags: Music, Free Shit, Post No Bills, Swag, Blowing in From Chicago, John Gilmore, Clifford Jordan, Captain Walter Dyett, DuSable High School, hard bop, tenor saxophone, Ari Brown, Edward Wilkerson Jr., Jazz Institute of Chicago

Music, Music Feature Sep 3, 2009
Audio
The Reader's Guide to the 31st Annual Chicago Jazz Festival

The Jazz Institute of Chicago has assembled an impressive slate of talent that broadens the traditional aesthetic scope of the festival.
- By Peter Margasak, John Corbett, and Bill Meyer
- Tags: Music Feature, Petrillo Music Shell, Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, Chicago Jazz Magazine, Grant Park, Velvet Lounge, Heaven Gallery, Katerina's, Hungry Brain, House of Trend, Jazz Showcase, AACM, Muhal Richard Abrams, Madeleine Peyroux, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble, Esperanza Spalding, Pritzker Pavilion, tribute to Benny Goodman, Chicago Jazz Ensemble, Buddy DeFranco, Grant Park, William Parker, Roscoe Mitchell, Renee Baker, Chicago Creative Music Workshop, Young Jazz Lions Stage, Roscoe Mitchell, Harrison Bankhead, Ari Brown, George Lewis, Barack Obama, Art Hoyle, Audio

Blogs, Bleader Jul 17, 2008
The JVC Jazz Festival: no longer a Chicago embarrassment

Pitchfork isn't this weekend's only worthwhile music fest: this year the JVC Jazz Festival makes a strong showing.
- By Peter Margasak
- Tags: Music, Post No Bills, William Parker, Von Freeman, Frank Catalano, Greg Osby, Ari Brown, Corey Wilkes, John Abercrombie

Blogs, Bleader Jan 3, 2008
Ari Brown brings it live

Saxophonist Ari Brown celebrates his new live record with an evening at the New Checkerboard Lounge.
- By Peter Margasak
- Tags: Music, Post No Bills, Chicago Jazz, Ari Brown

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Upcoming events and recommendations from our listings coordinator

Plus: Friends band together to help Jazz Showcase founder Joe Segal with medical bills, and power-pop veteran Jeff Lescher of Green celebrates a new solo record.

The south side’s own world-class jazz fest played host to dozens of shows and more than a hundred musicians.

The bandleader and drummer assembles an ensemble of composer-performers from The City Was Yellow, a “real book” documenting 30 years of the city’s jazz scene.

The leader of the Ritual Trio and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble is also a teacher, a connector, and an ambassador for Afrocentric jazz.

Joshua Abrams and Lisa Alvarado help give this Chicago collective’s transcendent minimalism a family feeling.

Circuit des Yeux, Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society, Irreversible Entanglements, and This Is Not This Heat don’t sell tickets like Fleet Foxes, but they help keep Pitchfork interesting.

Dee Alexander has earned international acclaim, but fame has eluded her. Her great new album, Songs My Mother Loves, might change that.

Plus: WHPK's Mario Smith on a J Dilla orchestra, the Reader's Philip Montoro on microtonal black metal, and more

Jack DeJohnette, Wadada Leo Smith, Hamid Drake, and others highlight the first two days of Jazz Fest.

Miguel Zenon, Wycliffe Jordon, and dozens of other cats flood Hyde Park

On Monday the Jazz Showcase hosts a tribute to the late Von Freeman that features his band from the New Apartment Lounge

Local tenor heavies Edward Wilkerson Jr. and Ari Brown visit Hamilton Park for a free Friday show.

The Jazz Institute of Chicago has assembled an impressive slate of talent that broadens the traditional aesthetic scope of the festival.

Pitchfork isn't this weekend's only worthwhile music fest: this year the JVC Jazz Festival makes a strong showing.

Saxophonist Ari Brown celebrates his new live record with an evening at the New Checkerboard Lounge.

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