Look for the mayor to blame the budget deficit on Rahm but not Lincoln Yards.
Tag: Vol. 48 No. 47
Issue of Aug. 29 – Sep. 4, 2019
Posted inMusic
No Men summon a demon to fight climate change in their new video
No Men summon a demon to fight climate change in their new video, DJ and producer Ariel Zetina celebrates a new EP at Danny’s, and more.
Posted inMusic
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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Saxophonist Dave Rempis builds a band with the stamina for deep dives
The lively quartet Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis brings to the festival finds the meditative heart of free improvisation.
Posted inMusic
The Art Ensemble of Chicago celebrate 50 years of pushing great Black music into the future
Art Ensemble cofounders Roscoe Mitchell and Famoudou Don Moye expand the group into an 18-piece big band with the likes of Nicole Mitchell, Tomeka Reid, Jaribu Shahid, and Fred Berry.
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The Fat Babies wring the kitsch out of trad jazz
Hardworking Chicago preservationists the Fat Babies play with the vitality and commitment to make antique songs feel brand-new.
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Mike Reed honors the modern golden age of Chicago jazz
Bandleader and drummer Mike Reed assembles an ensemble of composer-performers from The City Was Yellow, a “real book” documenting 30 years of the city’s jazz scene.
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Trumpeter Russ Johnson dances along a fine line
Wisconsin trumpeter and composer Russ Johnson strikes a perfect balance between mainstream and vanguard.
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Rob Mazurek refracts melody and groove through cosmic complexity
Trumpeter and polymath Rob Mazurek returns to his old hometown with the adventurous quartet Desert Encrypts Vol. 1.
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Subversive art-punks Möc Artsy existed mostly on cassette tapes
This stubbornly strange duo gigged only in their apartment, and only one song survives from their hours of bizarre recordings.
Posted inFilm
Movie Tuesday: Happy 90th anniversary, Music Box Theatre
Five films that put theaters at the center of the action.
Posted inMusic
Two Chicago institutions bridge jazz and blues
Guitarist George Freeman and harmonica player Billy Branch demonstrate the common roots of the sounds they love.
Posted inMusic
The complete schedule of the 2019 Chicago Jazz Festival
Thursday, August 29, through Sunday, September 1, 2019 in Millennium Park and at the Chicago Cultural Center
Posted inMusic
Jon Spencer & the Hitmakers are here to rattle your skull
I remember a time in the 90s when certain critics just didn’t believe that Jon Spencer’s impassioned retro-rock stage presence wasn’t some sort of ridiculous gimmick. Though some derided his band the Blues Explosion as a second-rate mimic of Canned Heat fronted by a white guy with Mr. Dynamite-era James Brown aspirations, for others his […]
Posted inMusic
Wovenhand makes hauntingly beautiful rootsy rock
If you’ve never experienced Wovenhand live, I highly recommend taking this opportunity to remedy that. This Colorado-based roots-rock quartet, fronted by singer-songwriter David Eugene Edwards (who previously led the singularly great country-gothic roots-rock band 16 Horsepower), play with a tent-revival fervor that’ll have your hair standing on end—you’ll be ready to believe Edwards just got […]