It’s been more than a decade since Blue Note Records released an album by a Chicago artist. The last time anyone based here appeared on the roster of this definitive jazz label, it was vocalists Patricia Barber and Kurt Elling, whose most recent Blue Note records as bandleaders arrived in the 2000s. But on November […]
Tag: In the Moment
Posted inMusic
Jazz drummer Makaya McCraven hones his skill at crafting compositions from improvisations
By now, the distinctive methods with which jazz drummer Makaya McCraven composes albums are well-known. Many of us learned about his prowess as a producer from 2015’s In the Moment, an expansive double LP on which McCraven spliced together parts from more than two dozen of his live sets to form a cohesive, free-flowing groove […]
Posted inMusic
Veteran hard-bop pianist Johnny O’Neal makes a rare Chicago appearance
Pianist Johnny O’Neal seemed destined for success when he moved from his native Detroit to New York in 1981 and scored a regular gig at the Blue Note, where he played behind heavies including Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown, and Nancy Wilson, among others. A year later he was working in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers—a virtual […]
Posted inMusic
International Anthem brings punk idealism to progressive jazz
Chicago label International Anthem puts in the sweat to bring progressive jazz the audience it deserves.
Posted inBlogs
Track premiere: Local drummer Makaya McCraven’s ‘Three Fifths a Man’
A sneak preview of the drummer’s forthcoming album on the new International Anthem imprint
Posted inArts & Culture
Too many of this year’s Rhinofest offerings are too small and too safe
The 25th annual Rhinoceros Theater Festival presents the cozy side of fringe.