Mar 15, 2022 1:30 PM
Kahil El’Zabar’s Uplifiting Soul
The laid-back, metronomic bounce and slap of percussionist Kahil El’Zabar’s earth drum (in tandem with contrapuntal…
A Time For Healing band members, from left, Isiah Collier, Justin Dillard, Corey Wilkes and Kahil El’Zabar.
Mar 15, 2022 1:30 PM
The laid-back, metronomic bounce and slap of percussionist Kahil El’Zabar’s earth drum (in tandem with contrapuntal…
Danilo Pérez discusses the upcoming Panama Jazz Festival.
Jan 7, 2022 4:11 PM
The Panama Jazz Festival, brainchild of irrepressible Panamanian pianist and educator Danilo Pérez and his wife,…
Altoizm is Greg Ward, Sharel Cassity and Rajiv Halim.
Jan 4, 2022 12:59 PM
As the track and field Olympics played out in a stadium full of robots in Tokyo, the alto sax olympics convened for a…
Artist-in-resdience Dee Dee Bridgewater performs with pianist Bill Charlap.
Oct 1, 2021 10:47 AM
The heroic Detroit Jazz Festival pivoted again this year, two weeks before a live festival kick-off scheduled for Labor…
Jerry Bergonzi’s new album, The Seven Rays, was partially inspired by his interest in philosophy.
Jul 11, 2019 9:20 AM
The artist’s return was long overdue: When Jerry Bergonzi set foot inside Chicago’s Green Mill on Jan. 4, it marked…
Drummer Billy Martin (left), keyboardist John Medeski and bassist Chris Wood all have recording projects outside of their trio.
Dec 21, 2018 9:40 AM
Medeski Martin & Wood’s new album offers a summation of the group’s purpose three decades into its unconventional…
Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah performs Sept. 29 at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival in Chicago.
Oct 12, 2018 9:29 AM
In its 12th year, Chicago’s Hyde Park Jazz Festival presented an almost preposterous amount of quality music on Sept.…
Jason Stein, bass clarinet (clockwise from top of photo); Matt Ulery, bass; Rob Clearfield, piano; Quin Kirchner, drums; Nick Mazzarella, alto sax; Nick Broste, trombone; Russ Johnson, trumpet; Dustin Laurenzi, tenor sax; and Nate Lepine, tenor sax.
Feb 2, 2018 12:32 PM
Quin Kirchner doesn’t look like your average jazz musician. With his long hair, often under a wide-brimmed hat, and…
Bandleader Roy Hargrove recently finished a two-week stint at Chicago’s Jazz Showcase.
Nov 4, 2018 10:25 AM
Roy Hargrove has been ringing in the New Year at Joe and Wayne Segal’s Jazz Showcase for many years.
“About 20…
David Sanborn’s roots are laid deep in the blues—he played with Albert King when he was 14—and he also came up around avant-gardists in his hometown of St Louis.
Nov 8, 2018 1:03 PM
David Sanborn was the most salient alto saxophonist of the ’70s and ’80s, a musician who parlayed his visceral,…
Nick Mazzarella (left) and Tomeka Reid perform at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, which took place Sept. 23–24 in Chicago.
Sep 28, 2017 8:35 AM
The 11th annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival, populating a dozen varied venues amid the picturesque splendor of the…
Gwilym Simcock at Hyatt jam session with Macy Gray, Montreal, 2013.
Aug 2, 2017 3:42 PM
Despite a formidable reputation in the U.K. and Europe and extensive touring with Anglo-American supergroup The…
27th Ward Alderman Walter Burnett Jr. (left), Alvin Carter-Bey, Larry Wade and Michael Callier
Jul 23, 2017 4:51 PM
There is conjecture that if blues historian Samuel Charters hadn’t absconded with the master tapes to Terry…
Greg Ward (left) with Preston Jackson outside The Whistler in Chicago April 23.
May 18, 2017 3:09 PM
Most jazz up-and-comers have musical mentors, but not so many of those elders serve as life coaches, too. When…
Branford Marsalis (left) and Kurt Elling pose for a photo at the Chicago Symphony Center, where they performed with Marsalis’ quartet on Jan. 27.
Feb 10, 2017 1:54 PM
Chicago Symphony Center patrons responded to the surprise match-up of the Branford Marsalis Quartet and Kurt Elling by…
Dec 2, 2016 3:07 PM
Though Chicago is a landlocked cultural oasis and despite the xenophobia of current times, the city is still a…
Former First Lady Laura Bush (left), President George W. Bush, First Lady Michelle Obama and President Obama at the Sept. 24 opening ceremony in Washington, D.C.
Oct 17, 2016 2:35 PM
As part of Freedom Sounds, a weekend-long festival in Washington, D.C., that celebrated the opening of the…
Matana Roberts at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival in Chicago
Oct 17, 2016 10:00 AM
On the afternoon of Sept. 25, mulling over how to open this review as I ambled between the music stages on Midway…
Melissa Aldana poses outside the Jazz Showcase in Chicago during her residency at the club May 5–May 8.
Mar 19, 2019 1:22 PM
“Grandfathered” is a term for pre-existing conditions that are handed down through generations. In Chilean…
Ran Blake
Jul 11, 2016 12:59 PM
Chicago has a remarkably fertile music scene, buoyed in no small part by the 2013 opening of Constellation, a music…
Benny Sharoni performs at Fitzgerald’s in Berwyn, Illinois, on April 9.
Apr 27, 2016 12:15 PM
Israeli tenor saxophonist Benny Sharoni wasn’t born in Alabama or the Bronx—he’s from Yemeni/Chilean parentage—but…
Rudresh Mahanthappa (left) with Stefon Harris at the Symphony Center in Chicago on Feb. 26
Mar 22, 2016 2:50 PM
Chicago Symphony Center’s Jazz Series presented an ambitious double billing Feb. 26 with alto saxophonist Rudresh…
John Scofield (left) and Joe Lovano perform material from their album Past Present (Impulse!) at SPACE in Evanston, Illinois, on Feb. 5
Feb 25, 2016 4:55 PM
Guitarist John Scofield is a familiar presence at SPACE in Evanston, Illinois (originally a lofty acronym for Society…
Jul 25, 2018 4:01 PM
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