This week’s featured gig poster advertises this weekend’s Chicago Jazz String Summit, two evenings of streaming performances by string players working in jazz, improvisation, and experimental music. It’s the seventh year for this celebration of stringed instruments in nonclassical forms, founded by cellist, composer, and longtime Chicagoan Tomeka Reid.
The poster and the summit’s logo were created by designer, illustrator, and musician Rei Alvarez, a Puerto Rican native who DJs as Rattan DJ and founded bolero-focused ensemble Miramar. He currently lives in Richmond, Virginia.
Friday and Saturday night’s performances are free to watch online via Experimental Sound Studio’s Quarantine Concerts series. The summit also includes four workshops for string players earlier on Saturday, hosted on Zoom by California’s Mills College, where Reid has been a visiting professor since 2019.
Chicagoans have a long way to go before we can attend shows in person the way we used to, but we can still do our part to support the people who make them happen: the Reader has compiled a list of fundraisers for out-of-work or underemployed venue staff. And you can help musicians, theater artists, and other creatives by contributing to funds that offer them direct support; the Reader lists some ideas here and here.
ARTIST: Rei Alvarez
GIG: Chicago Jazz String Summit, Fri 4/30 and Sat 5/1, performances start at 8 PM CDT each evening and stream at Experimental Sound Studio’s website and Twitch channel.
ARTIST INFO: reialvarez.com