Local label the Sirens has long upheld the tradition of Chicago blues piano, and in the past decade or so it’s begun exploring the neglected world of gospel piano as well. This show features three artists in the Sirens stable, two with new releases. Elsa Harris’s I Thank God is a mostly instrumental collection of […]
Tag: Vol. 48 No. 29
Issue of Apr. 25 – May. 1, 2019
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Saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi adapts the compositions of street musician Moondog to jazz
Even by New York City standards, Louis “Moondog” Hardin (1916-1999) was a character. For a quarter century beginning in the late 1940s, his blind, hirsute form occupied a spot on Sixth Avenue. Sometimes he performed or sold his music, and other times he just stood there, looking imposing in Viking garb. His music included proto-minimalist […]
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Chicago hip-hop series All Smiles signs off with a generation-spanning blowout
No other series has done as much to demonstrate the breadth and depth of contemporary Chicago hip-hop as All Smiles. Launched seven years ago by rapper-singer Rich Jones, the intergenerational monthly showcase says goodbye tonight with a lineup that speaks to its long history of bringing together locals from different cliques and eras. Jones began […]
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On Mint, global citizen Alice Merton unpacks her nomadic lifestyle
Europe was way ahead of the United States with Alice Merton: Her 2016 single “No Roots” made it to number two on the German charts in 2017 and charted all over the continent—including in France, Italy, Belgium, and Poland—before finally hitting the American market hard last year. If you’ve heard the song’s opening riff and […]
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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 […]
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Lefty troubadour Billy Bragg looks “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back” in a three-night Chicago stand
With his instantly recognizable voice—stark, blustery, and heartfelt—Billy Bragg has always had a no-frills musical style. His innovativeness manifests mostly in his career path. Also a historian and lefty activist, for the past two decades Bragg has often worn all of his hats at once, whether re-creating unfinished Woody Guthrie songs in collaboration with Wilco, […]
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Should-have-been British rock legend Terry Reid plays a rare Chicago show
“There are only three things happening in England,” Aretha Franklin was quoted as saying in 1968. “The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and Terry Reid.” Few have had careers as simultaneously high-flying and underappreciated as Reid’s. One of rock’s greatest vocalists, he began singing as a teen with R&B bands, including Peter Jay & the Jaywalkers, […]
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DIY rockers Guerilla Toss blend whimsy and profundity on Twisted Crystal
Guerilla Toss are down with the Grateful Dead. In an impassioned Facebook post from July 2015, the New York-based band threw laurels upon a group they called “the first ‘DIY’ band,” noting that the Dead used harsh noise in the 1960s and brandished modular synthesizers throughout the ’70s. Like the Dead, Guerilla Toss combine a […]