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Plenty to See Before -- And After -- Jazz Showcase Returns
Every jazz listener in Chicago wants to know the same thing: Exactly when will Joe and Wayne Segal's irreplaceable Jazz Showcase reopen?
No one -- not even the Segals -- can name a precise date. But they expect the Jazz Showcase, at Dearborn Station in the South Loop, to re-emerge in spring, once a build-out has been completed.
Until then, the city's jazz scene continues its seemingly perpetual expansion, with constant activity in all the clubs, plus concerts in spaces such as Symphony Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art and Steppenwolf Theatre.
Following are just a few highlights -- other events will be previewed in coming weeks and months:
Great Black Music Ensemble: There's no other unit quite like it -- a collection of brilliant improvisers who keep redefine the big-band genre. Led by multi-instrumentalist Mwata Bowden and staffed by members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), the Great Black Music Ensemble attests to the inventive spirit of both the AACM and the never-ending ferment of the Chicago avant-garde scene; 6 p.m. Sunday and Jan. 13 at the Velvet Lounge, 67 E. Cermak Rd.; 312-791-9050.
Ari Brown: The mighty Chicago tenor saxophonist released one of the best CDs of last year, “Live at Green Mill" (Delmark Records), but this time he'll be live at the Checkerboard Lounge. (The Checkerboard Sunday series continueswith vocalist Tammy McCann, Jan. 13; pianist Willie Pickens, Jan. 20; pianist Charlie Johnson, Jan. 27; “Tribute to Grady Johnson," Feb. 3; saxophonist Ray Silkman, Feb. 10; saxophonist Diane Ellis, Feb. 24; and vocalist Dee Alexander, Feb. 24.) 7:30-11 p.m. Sunday at the Checkerboard Lounge, 5201 S. Harper Ave.; 773-684-1472.
No one -- not even the Segals -- can name a precise date. But they expect the Jazz Showcase, at Dearborn Station in the South Loop, to re-emerge in spring, once a build-out has been completed.
Until then, the city's jazz scene continues its seemingly perpetual expansion, with constant activity in all the clubs, plus concerts in spaces such as Symphony Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art and Steppenwolf Theatre.
Following are just a few highlights -- other events will be previewed in coming weeks and months:
Great Black Music Ensemble: There's no other unit quite like it -- a collection of brilliant improvisers who keep redefine the big-band genre. Led by multi-instrumentalist Mwata Bowden and staffed by members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), the Great Black Music Ensemble attests to the inventive spirit of both the AACM and the never-ending ferment of the Chicago avant-garde scene; 6 p.m. Sunday and Jan. 13 at the Velvet Lounge, 67 E. Cermak Rd.; 312-791-9050.
Ari Brown: The mighty Chicago tenor saxophonist released one of the best CDs of last year, “Live at Green Mill" (Delmark Records), but this time he'll be live at the Checkerboard Lounge. (The Checkerboard Sunday series continueswith vocalist Tammy McCann, Jan. 13; pianist Willie Pickens, Jan. 20; pianist Charlie Johnson, Jan. 27; “Tribute to Grady Johnson," Feb. 3; saxophonist Ray Silkman, Feb. 10; saxophonist Diane Ellis, Feb. 24; and vocalist Dee Alexander, Feb. 24.) 7:30-11 p.m. Sunday at the Checkerboard Lounge, 5201 S. Harper Ave.; 773-684-1472.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
