German reedist Silke Eberhard is hardly cagey about her influences. In recent years, in fact, she’s recorded several personal interpretations of their work—she took a stroll through the Ornette Coleman songbook with pianist Aki Takase, for example, and her all-horn quartet, Potsa Lotsa, plays nothing but tunes composed by Eric Dolphy. Last year Eberhard released two new records on the Leo label that capture different facets of her tart playing on clarinet and alto sax: Turns, with pianist Uwe Oberg, is mostly renditions of beautifully contemplative chamberlike pieces by Jimmy Giuffre (and his associates Carla Bley and Annette Peacock), while Mingus Mingus Mingus, by Eberhad’s trio with trumpeter Nikolaus Neuser and drummer Christian Marien, consists of vivid small-group translations of the bassist’s ebullient contrapuntal arrangements that don’t sacrifice their original energy or wit. Eberhard is also a terrific composer and improviser, though, and on this rare Chicago visit we’ll get to hear her play without the filter of a jazz legend. On Thursday she improvises in two ad hoc groups with some of Chicago’s best players: a trio with cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and synth player Jim Baker and a quartet with saxophonist Dave Rempis, bassist Kent Kessler, and drummer Mike Reed. On Friday she presents her own tunes with an intriguing octet: bassoonist Katherine Young, cornetist Josh Berman, bass clarinetist Jason Stein, violinist Macie Stewart, pianist Paul Giallorenzo, bassist Jason Roebke, and drummer Phil Sudderberg. v
German reedist Silke Eberhard summons two disparate groups of locals for a rare Chicago appearance
