There’s been jazz in Chicago for nearly as long as there’s been jazz. While jazz is commonly said to have ridden the rails to Chicago around 1916, when the Great Migration of African Americans from the south to the north kicked into gear, Dixieland bandleader Wilbur Sweatman had played gigs on the city’s south side […]
Tag: Millennium Park
Posted inMusic
Chicago celebrates a century of Black gospel
Chicago has earned bragging rights as the birthplace of Black gospel music. It was here that gospel was first composed, sung, played, published, promoted, recorded, broadcast, and formalized—the last via a national convention with regional chapters. Migrants to Chicago from the south in particular found comfort in it, because it articulated their shared experiences as […]
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The Preservation of Fire series brings the cosmos to Millennium Park
In 2019, Chicago event producer and teacher Alejandro Ayala, who DJs as King Hippo, received a grant from the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) to produce a two-night concert series called the Preservation of Fire. The concerts, hosted by Co-Prosperity in Bridgeport and broadcast live on Worldwide FM and Lumpen Radio, […]
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Decades of divas on the gig poster of the week
This week’s featured gig poster features art by anthropologist and graphic designer Kisira Hill.
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Rob Mazurek’s latest with his Exploding Star Orchestra finds hope in the cosmos
Dimensional Stardust is a splendid sonic antidote for the spirit-damping insults of a year that can’t end soon enough—growth and transcendence are programmed into the album’s DNA. The Exploding Star Orchestra’s leader, multi-instrumentalist Rob Mazurek, started out playing idiomatically correct hard bop in Chicago’s jazz bars in the 1980s. These days he lives in Marfa, […]
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Chicago art-pop wonder Sen Morimoto captures the magic of his community
Chicago art-pop wizard Sen Morimoto made national news in July, when the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events removed him from its Millennium Park at Home virtual summertime music series. Morimoto had prerecorded a series of mystical, gentle musical movements, but he began his set by delivering a brief statement lightly criticizing Mayor Lori […]
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Lori Branch’s greatest moments in Chicago music history
Pioneering house DJ Lori Branch shouts out her fellow Windy City originators, including Chaka Khan and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
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The Reader’s guide to the 2019 Chicago Jazz Festival
This year’s lineup details a sprawling cross section of the genre, including world-changing explorers the Art Ensemble of Chicago, trad band the Fat Babies, venerable guitarist George Freeman, and restless experimenter Rob Mazurek.
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Open the Circle teaches footwork because footwork saves lives
Chicago nonprofit Open the Circle works to spread a local Black dance culture that can knit together youth communities.
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The Reader’s guide to the 2019 Chicago Blues Festival
The Blues Festival diversifies its lineup for 2019, with suave and sexy R&B star Latimore, deep-soul legend Don Bryant, genre-defying singer Bettye LaVette, and many more.
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The complete schedule of the 2019 Chicago Blues Festival
Three full days of blues in Millennium Park, featuring Bobby Rush, Ruthie Foster, Dom Flemons, Bombino, Larkin Poe, and dozens more
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The schedule for the 2019 Millennium Park Summer Music Series is here!
Its 11 shows can’t make up for all the series DCASE has killed, but booking Jupiter & Okwess, Chucho Valdes, Car Seat Headrest, Lydia Loveless, and Los Amigos Invisibles helps a lot.
Posted inBlogs
With Bill Daley running for mayor, it’s good to remember what happened the last time we turned Chicago over to the Daleys
The son of Richard J. and brother of Richard M. thinks it’s his turn.
Posted inMusic
What to see at the 2018 World Music Festival
The World Music Festival’s 21 free concerts feature a crowd of international talents—among them hallucinatory Argentine singer-songwriter Juana Molina, generation-spanning Cuban big band Orquesta Akokán, and omnivorous Congolese groove machine Jupiter & Okwess.