Among the myriad injuries inflicted upon Americans by COVID-19 (though admittedly one of the mildest) is the impossibility of attending your favorite holiday concert. For the past dozen years, Chicago-based saxophonist Mars Williams has hosted a unique variation on that seasonal tradition. Each December he convenes Witches & Devils, his combo devoted to the music […]
Tag: free-jazz
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With Swirling, the Sun Ra Arkestra wills a better world into existence
“The satellites are spinning / A better day is breaking / Great happiness is pending / The planet Earth’s awakening.” The first lyrics on the Sun Ra Arkestra’s long-awaited Swirling (Strut), sung by Tara Middleton, sound like a dispatch from a world infinitely more promising than our own. That dogged optimism carries the entire studio […]
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D.C. progressive jazz duo Blacks’ Myths find the light in harsh noise
Long before drummer Warren G. “Trae” Crudup III and bassist Luke Stewart launched noisy free-jazz duo Blacks’ Myths in 2018, they backed celebrated saxophonist James Brandon Lewis as the rhythm section in his trio. They’ve also enmeshed themselves in D.C.’s jazz scene individually: Crudup performs with a slew of scene fixtures, including saxophonist Brian Settles […]
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The 29th annual solstice concerts offer a yearly return or a new annual tradition
I have to admit, I literally slept on going to Michael Zerang and Hamid Drake’s winter solstice concerts for the first 27 years (though granted, I was only 17 when the first one happened). Out-of-town friends even crashed at my pad to attend the early-morning shows, but as a former night owl, I always thought […]
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Saxophonist Joe Daley helped pioneer free jazz in the late 50s
Joe Daley cut a live trio album at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1963 that became an early entry in the free-jazz canon.
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Veteran multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee sounds as fresh as ever with Universal Indians
“Wanted” is a simmering dose of free improv from their recent collaborative album Skullduggery.
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The debut album of brilliant tenor saxophonist David S. Ware is back in print
Birth of a Being, David S. Ware’s blazing 1977 recording with Apogee, has been reissued by Aum Fidelity.
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Aggressive sax-drum duos Dead Neanderthals and Burning Tree play Elastic
Spill-off from the Utech Records Fest in Milwaukee benefits Chicago Sunday evening
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An early recording of Europe’s mighty improvising group the Schlippenbach Trio emerges
A new release presents the group’s earliest recordings from April of 1972.
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He’s back: Weasel Walter plays Chicago/RIP Kenny Wheeler
The former Chicagoan plays Township with his band Cellular Chaos.
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Robin Thicke’s morbidly fascinating Paula and 15 more record reviews
This month’s release roundup includes White Lung’s witchy two-minute mantras, Monarch’s crawling tectonic doom, and Sir Michael Rocks’s bleakly sunny party rap.
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Reader’s Agenda Tue 5/6: Stages, Sights & Sounds, First Tuesdays with Mick and Ben, and Nels Cline Singers
What’s on the Reader‘s Agenda for Tuesday, May 6
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Earl Sweatshirt’s humane, heartbreaking Doris and 14 more record reviews
Earl Sweatshirt’s humane, heartbreaking Doris and 14 more record reviews
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Delmark salvages a classic album from Roscoe Mitchell
Delmark Records’ acquisition of the Sackville label begins to bear fruit with the reissue of a classic Roscoe Mitchell album.
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12 O’Clock Track: “Promises Kept,” masterful modern jazz from Sonny Sharrock
The opening track from one of the greatest jazz records of all time, by guitarist Sonny Sharrock