Empty Bottle Fest Releases Lineup

  I  

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.



  • Flea_by_Gus_Van_Sant_copy.jpg

    “Cerebral and academic thought is a different way to approach music,” Flea says of his continuing dive into jazz. “I’ve always relied on emotion and intuition and physicality.”

  • 2026_Cecil_McLorin_Salvant_Sullivan_Fortner_Big_Ears.jpg

    Cécile McLorin Salvant busts out Jelly Roll Morton’s “The Murder Ballad” at Big Ears, here with pianist Sullivan Fortner.

  • JAM_posters_-_a_selection_cropped.jpg

    Each of the 25 JAMs has delivered a poster featuring a jazz legend that is sent out to schools across the nation. This year’s poster features Tony Bennett.

  • NikBaertschs_RONIN_by_Christian_Senti.jpg

    “We thought it’s important that Ronin has a new statement,” said Nik Bärtsch of his band’s latest album, Spin. “The sound is differently produced, so it reflects more of who we are.”

  • Stefano_Bollani_by_David_Morresi%3AUmbria_Jazz_copy.jpg

    Bollani demonstrates at the piano during a live Blindfold Test in Umbria, Italy, while writer Ashley Kahn, right, and translator Greg Burk look on.