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: percussion
Posted inMusic
Drummer Tim Daisy hits a hot streak with his record label
Drummer Tim Daisy hits a hot streak with his record label, indie rockers Jupiter Styles celebrate a star-studded sophomore album, and more.
Posted inMusic
Percussionist Claire Rousay makes her Chicago debut at Exposure Series 2019
In jazz, soloists step in front of the band to show their stuff and then retreat back into the ensemble’s framework. Percussionist Claire Rousay, based in San Antonio, Texas, doesn’t play jazz, but her improvisations are just as conscious of the relationship between self and surroundings. She is queer and transgender, and her music addresses […]
Posted inArts & Culture
In Stomp, power comes not from being the loudest but from sharing what you have
And just about anything can be an instrument—even the kitchen sink.
Posted inMusic
R&B artist Jordanna on burning down the patriarchy, then getting a manicure
Current musical obsessions of pop R&B artist Jordanna, violinist and composer Lucy Little, and Reader music editor Philip Montoro
Posted inBlogs
Percussionist Bill Solomon celebrates a new CD with an hour of bells and bowed bronze
Saturday at Constellation, Bill Solomon performs the Chicago premiere of Matt Sargent’s Ghost Music to support the first recording of this solo percussion piece.
Posted inMusic
Eight hands make light work for Third Coast Percussion
Third Coast Percussion are already one of the best ensembles of their kind in the country—and their upcoming projects with Philip Glass and Devonté Hynes could make them the biggest.
Posted inBlogs
From the archive: When a Reader staffer dreamed of blue-faced superstardom
Inside the audition process for the Blue Man Group
Posted inBlogs
Jon Mueller and Mike Weis meditate with drums at the Zen Buddhist Temple-Chicago
In paired solo sets this Saturday, Jon Mueller and Mike Weis will use drums and gongs to draw out the acoustic qualities of a Zen temple.
Posted inBlogs
The environmental wonder of John Luther Adams’s Inuksuit
Chicago percussionist Doug Perkins has produced a dynamic recording of John Luther Adams’s outdoor epic.
Posted inMusic
In Rotation: Saxophonist Nick Mazzarella on John Coltrane in his own words
Current musical obsessions of saxophonist Nick Mazzarella and drummer Frank Rosaly
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best Freak Folker Who Makes Soap and Writes Books of Erotic Poetry
Even if you haven’t seen her play, you’ve probably noticed her around town, with her long dark tresses, psychedelic tattoos, and gypsy adornments.
Posted inBlogs
Gig poster of the week: Keeping time with Third Coast Percussion
This week’s gig poster was designed by local artist Dan Grzeca.
Posted inBlogs
“I have the distinct feeling that the patient in America is becoming invisible”
Doctors are becoming medical technicians, seeing mainly computer data where they once saw human beings.
Posted inMusic
Aaron Siegel, Nate Wooley
Trumpeter Nate Wooley and percussionist Aaron Siegel are accomplished group improvisers with strong jazz backgrounds, but in a solo improv setting both tend to throw all idiomatic reference out the window and head for the frontiers of sound research. Wooley–who’s previously played in Chicago with his excellent trio Blue Collar, featuring Steve Swell and Tatsuya […]