Showbiz Roundup

Trumpeter Emily Kuhn is another in a string of Oberlin grads who is finding Chicago to be a fertile place to hone her chops and artistic vision among welcoming peers. She set the bar high in 2020 with her debut recording “Sky Stories” that features vocals, strings, and multiple ensembles. The album release tour for her new quintet record  “Ghosts Of Us” is sure to scare up some eager listeners.

The band TwinTalk—Dustin Laurenzi, Andrew Green, and Katie Ernst—is a saxophone (and voice) trio named for the unique language spoken by the most genetically linked siblings. The band demonstrates this familiarity with deep exploration of a fairly spare orchestration and its possibilities. The results brim with curiosity, emotion, and wonder.

Cisco Bradley is a noted historian and professor whose new book documents the experimental avant garde music scene on the Brooklyn waterfront between 1988 and 2014. The scene sprouted in the harsh post-industrial landscape of Williamsburg and grew until it was pushed out by gentrification. Cisco’s document preserves an art form so ephemeral that, in many cases, it might otherwise have been lost to...

Jeb Bishop has been an important member of the improvised music scenes in Chicago, Boston, and Chicago again. Along the way he’s figured out how to sustain his musical efforts—which are, by the way, some of the most engaging anywhere—over the long haul. And the trombone trio he‘s currently on the road with is one of the most exceptional.

Scott Amendola is as adventurous with his playing as he is with his exploration of live looping and electronic effects. From the freest side of improvisation to the deepest pocket, he’s developed a mastery of eclecticism. And if the stellar list of musicians he’s worked with is any indication—including Will Blades and Cyro Baptista on this outing, it’s working. 

The Chris Speed Trio, with Chris Tordini and Dave King represents the peak of what’s possible when three musicians whose capacity is limitless get together to explore the language and heart of Jazz–and choose to speak with a unified voice. But Chris Speed is no stranger to the most creative frontiers of this music having been an essential leader of this rarefied community since the late 1980s.

Pianist Pandelis Karayorgis has spent nearly 40 years here in the U.S. developing a distinctive voice that extends from the foundations built by such heroes as Thelonious Monk and Paul Bley. While much of his work has emerged from the creative scene centered in greater Boston, he also has long-standing connections in Chicago—which include noted instigator Dave Rempis who has assisted here in assem...

If you stop in at the Uptowner in Milwaukee on any given Tuesday, you’ll be treated to the Dave Bayles Trio working it out, keeping it spontaneous and real. If you happen to hear the gears grinding and skipping a bit as they engage it’s because they’ve invited you into the creative process in real time, which is a rare thing indeed.

On his new record “Deep Breath” Kenny Reichert engages a longstanding group of stalwart collaborators, to showcase his growth as a composer, bandleader, and guitarist over the nearly nine years since his previous outing as leader.

Anna Webber has worked hard to establish herself as an elevating force in the rarefied world at the intersection of creative jazz and new music. An accomplished composer whose first mission was to develop her potential as an instrumentalist, she’s stopping by our fair city while on the road with her evocatively named Shimmer Wince Quintet.

On this episode Showbiz Roundup welcomes guest host John Christensen who will be interviewing me about the jazz octet Michael Brenneis and the Plutonium Players (or Plutonium for short) in advance of our show coming up at the North Street Cabaret. It’s a good conversation and John asks some interesting questions and we both proceed as if this level of self-promotion is perfectly acceptable.

Arp of the Covenant, a trio of electro-acoustic improvisers, draws its inspiration from the ARP 2600, a 1970s era analog synthesizer known for being unpredictable except in the most expert hands. While Arp of the Covenant may be unpredictable they’re far from inexpert as their intricate, ambitious, appealing music demonstrates.

Pianist Paul Hecht returns with a new trio and a new mélange of music in his pursuit of new avenues of expression. Named after a work by American poet John Ashbury, the Pyrography Trio ignites a thread between Paul’s life as an English professor and his new career as excursioning pianist plying his trade and expanding his circle, while kindling connections between the scenes of Eau Claire, Chicago...

The performers coming to the 2023 BlueStem Jazz/North Street Cabaret Piano Summit invite listeners to open themselves to the layers of sound and harmonic landscape that an acoustic piano can generate, layers not routinely thought about or explored. The four pianists here, Jane Reynolds, Matt Blair, Paul Hastil, and David Stoler represent the acme of the jazz pianists practicing within a small radi...

Zakk Jones is a guitarist who thrives on variety as evidenced by the range of groups he plays with and the repertoire he plays with his own trio. He’s also someone who believes in giving back, which he does through teaching at a couple of Ohio colleges, through an online presence focused on education, and on his own guitar-oriented podcast “Beyond the Frets.”

Trumpeter Chad McCullough began a fruitful collaboration with Belgian pianist Bram Weijters in 2009 while both were attending the acclaimed Banff Jazz Workshop. Fourteen years later, with a half dozen quartet and duo recordings behind them, this ambitious duo will assemble a cast of exceptional regional players for a live recording–right here in our fair city.

The tireless and adventurous improviser Dave Rempis has once again assembled a heavyweight cast to probe the reaches of collective improvisation. Joined on this outing by world-class trumpeter Russ Johnson, celebrated catalyst Jeremy Cunningham, and home-town hero Jakob Heinemann, the field of play is wide open.

With the Joe Policastro Trio, everything is on the table: eccentric repertoire, unique orchestration, and an approach that veers from the center to the frontier. Among the elements that are not up for grabs, however, are outstanding musicianship, telepathic interaction, and a palette that extends well beyond the standard spectrum.

Javier Red’s Imagery Converter is a device that transforms ideas about music from the Jazz tradition and contemporary composers into an organic sonic ecosystem. Oh, and they’re also a band of accomplished musicians pushing the boundaries of the familiar with an eye toward new directions.

I interrupted the breakfast of Luke Leavitt, Ari Smith, and Tim Russell—the band Laminal Animil—to chat about their improvising, experimental trio and the way they purposefully subvert language, music, and everything else they can think of in their serious exploration of new sound frontiers.

At one time legendary saxophonist Chico Freeman was himself a young lion on the scene breathing the life of a new generation into this music. Now the internationally renowned artist and statesman is mentoring the next generation to advance this music into another century. 

Mr. Chair opens a new chapter with the release of “Better Days,” an album full of optimism, joy, and, of course–as Mark Hetzler puts it “lots of notes.” Mark joins me on this episode to talk about this collective, collaborative band and his career as a trombone professor.

Amina Figarova looks to a brighter future full of positive vibes with her new album ‘Joy’. Also, surrounding herself with the kind of extraordinary players who will be joining her on this tour, opens a limitless canvas for the realization of her artistic vision.

The Esthesis Quartet took the adversity of a global pandemic head on by supporting each other's need to stay creative and focused. These adventurous musician-composers–with deep roots in the continuum of this music–have crafted a compelling universe of jazz.

Larry Ochs makes up one-quarter of the world renowned ROVA Saxophone Quartet (he’s the “O” in the name) which formed in San Francisco during the mid-1970s. Drawing inspiration from a spectrum of music that includes everything from Free Jazz to what we sometimes call contemporary classical music, ROVA pushes the envelope of what is possible for four musicians with saxophones.