- Jason Ajemian
Though the three weekly series that make up the core of Umbrella Music‘s bookings—Wednesdays at the Hideout, Thursdays at Elastic, and Sundays at the Hungry Brain—tend to get most of the attention when the discussion turns to Chicago’s north-side free-jazz and improvised-music scenes, they’re hardly the only games in town. The Protest Jazz series at Heaven Gallery has become another important outlet for local (and occasionally visiting) musicians, and this Friday and Saturday it celebrates its fifth anniversary, after a fashion. As drummer Marc Riordan, Protest Jazz’s current cocurator, notes, “The only thing we can say for sure is that it’s not actually the fifth anniversary of the series.”