The end of the year is a time for traditions that affirm social and spiritual priorities, and one of Chicago’s most enduring annual rituals comes from its music community. Since 1990, local percussionists Hamid Drake and Michael Zerang have convened at Links Hall to perform a concert that celebrates the season but doesn’t align with […]
Tag: improvisational music
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The Gilgamanians and Maku Sica celebrate new records from distant points on the spectrum of improvisation
The Gilgamanians and Maku Sica (formerly Mako Sica) sound profoundly different from each other, but these two local ensembles share a commitment to using improvisation to tap into ideas they would never find any other way. The Gilgamanians are percussionist Michael Zerang and shortwave-radio operator Don Meckley. This is the duo’s first concert, but their […]
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Drummer Susie Ibarra and guitarist Tashi Dorji subdivide sound and silence on Master of Time
In 2019, the Tang Museum at Skidmore College presented The Second Buddha: Master of Time, an exhibition concerning Padmasambhava, the guru credited with bringing Buddhism to Tibet during the eighth century. Along with lectures and exhibits both visual and virtual, the museum commissioned a concert—conceived as a “musical bardo exploration”—by Susie Ibarra, a Philippine American […]
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Cellist and former Chicagoan Fred Lonberg-Holm revives some local projects
Cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm lived in Chicago for 22 years. During that time, he was ubiquitous on the city’s improvisational music scene, playing in bands and ad hoc groupings with so many essential players that any list that could fit in this preview would be ridiculously incomplete. He was also a tireless touring musician who represented […]
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Juana Molina’s folktronica is perfect for tumbling down a rabbit hole to wonderland
To experience a Juana Molina concert is to be swept away in a most particular sort of rapture. In the late 80s and early 90s, the Argentine singer-songwriter had a successful career in television and comedy before changing gears to pursue music. An early proponent of combining South American folk music and electronica, Molina introduced […]
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David Grubbs, Rob Mazurek, and Mats Gustafsson take a musical road trip as the Underflow
The Underflow take their name from the Greek record store where guitarist David Grubbs, cornetist Rob Mazurek, and saxophonist Mats Gustafsson played their first trio gig in May 2019. But the connections joining the three musicians were forged in the 1990s, when Grubbs and Mazurek were associated with Chicago’s postrock scene and the Sweden-born Gustafsson […]
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The improvising trio of Jim Baker, Keefe Jackson, and Julian Kirshner specializes in surprise
Chicago’s improvisational music community has launched plenty of transformational figures over the decades. But while iconic individuals such as Sun Ra, Roscoe Mitchell, and Henry Threadgill have all changed the way people around the world approach music, a thriving scene also needs players who keep the fires burning every week in local clubs. Keefe Jackson […]