Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
In Memoriam: John Hammond Jr., 1942–2026
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
The ninth annual Empty Bottle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music is scheduled to kick off on Wednesday, June 16 with a free performance. The following three days have a $15 cover.
The lineup for the festival includes:
June 15: Chicago Ad Hoc: A first time meeting of 10 performers featuring an amalgam of instrumental combinations ranging from brass to reeds to electronics to strings.
June 16: Peter Brotzmann and Nasheet Waits; Davey Williams with Jim Baker & Tim Daisy; The Rempis Percussion Ensemble; and a surprise set.
June 17: Ken Vandermark with Torsten Muller, Paul Rutherford, & Dylan Van Der Schyff; Peter Brotzmann, Kent Kessler, Paul Rutherford, & Nasheet Waits; The Tatsu Aoki, Ed Wilkerson Jr., Michael Zerang Trio; and a surprise set.
June 18: Sam Rivers; The Robert Barry, Paul Rutherford Duo; The Fred Lonberg-Holm Trio; Relay Signals featuring Jason Ajemian, Zoe Buck, Tim Daisy, Ernst Karel, and Aram Shelton.
For more details, go to www.emptybottle.com.
Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
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