Entries associated with the tag "Greg Osby":

The Pitchfork Music Festival isn't the only game in town this weekend: a radically revamped JVC Jazz Festival runs Friday through Sunday at various venues around Chicago. In the past this local satellite of the onetime Newport Jazz Festival presented a handful of forgettable smooth-jazz shows, but this year the music is vastly improved--though it looks suspiciously like the presenters merely attached their name to an assortment of gigs that were already booked. In this week's paper Bill Meyer previews bassist William Parker's shows at the Velvet Lounge, sure to be a highlight, and while I fail to understand the logic of including Pat Benatar's Friday-night gig at the House of Blues, there are some other shows worth recommending.

Guitarist John Abercrombie (pictured), one of the most dominant and popular guitarists in jazz over the past couple of decades, plays the reborn Jazz Showcase Friday through Sunday with one of his working bands, which includes drummer Adam Nussbaum and organist Gary Versace; they're joined by local saxophonist Eric Schneider. Nearly all of Abercrombie's records as a leader have been for ECM, including last year's The Third Quartet--he's been one of label owner and producer Manfred Eicher's most devoted acolytes, committed to the chilly production the imprint is both celebrated and reviled for. I've always found his sound a bit too atmospheric, but when he wants to get down and dirty, he can play the shit out of the guitar. His recent quartet records--with drummer Joey Baron, bassist Marc Johnson, and brilliant violinist Mark Feldman--have benefited immensely from Feldman's counterpoint and harmony lines, which bring some much-needed tension and grit.

Since parting ways with Blue Note Records a couple of years back, superb alto saxophonist Greg Osby has turned up less frequently around these parts, but his Friday and Saturday shows at Andy's with local trumpet phenom Corey Wilkes sound promising. For 15 years or so Osby has shown a great gift for spotting rising young stars--including pianist Jason Moran and bassist Matt Brewer--and though Wilkes, who released his first record last month, isn't exactly a rookie, I'm curious to hear if he'll be at all deferential to Osby. Wilkes's debut suggested he hasn't quite sorted out his talents yet.

And on Friday and Saturday the Green Mill hosts a multigenerational tenor-sax blowout, with patriarch Von Freeman, AACM MVP Ari Brown, and young squirt Frank Catalano, who just released his debut for Savoy Jazz, Bang!--a tepid and predictable dose of easygoing jazz-funk. Catalano has plenty of energy and chops, but his elders apparently have all the taste, knowledge, and ideas. Lucky for him, Freeman and Brown are avuncular, not cutthroat, so there won't be a need for a body bag. The superb rhythm section consists of pianist Willie Pickens, bassist Brian Sandstrom, and drummer Robert Shy.

Today's playlist:

Jacob Young, Evening Falls (ECM)
Junior Delahaye, Showcase (Wackies)
Thank You, Terrible Two (Thrill Jockey)
Cameo, Anthology (Mercury)
Bushman's Revenge, Cowboy Music (Jazzaway)

Weekend happenings that didn’t find their way into this week’s Treatment:

James Falzone’s Allos Musica, Lamentations @ Chicago Cultural Center : Falzone is one of the city’s most focused and inquisitive clarinetists, and his compositions favor a rigor and precision that’s rare. He uses the Allos Musica name as an umbrella for several distinct projects, including the fine sextet that performed on the impressive The Sign and the Thing Signified earlier this year. This weekend he revisits the trio setting he first utilized last year during a commissioned series at Gallery 37. Working with the great Palestinian oudist and composer Issa Boulos, the group—rounded out by drummer Tim Mulvenna, who plays mostly frame drums in this context—explored an intersection of jazz improvisation and Arabic maqam. A live recording from last October displays an impressive fluidity, with Boulos and Falzone finding an agreeable comfort zone; the loose arrangements give the participants plenty of space, but structurally the pieces don’t cling too tightly to the often rigid demands of maqam. The 3 PM concert at Preston Bradley Hall features Ronnie Malley of Mucca Pazza and Lamajamal replacing Boulos. The group will also perform on Monday night at Koten Chapel on the campus of North Central College in Naperville, where Falzone teaches.

Greg Osby Four, Friday and Saturday at the Green Mill: One of the most compelling saxophonists of the last two decades, Osby recently lost his long-time deal with Blue Note Records, which staunchly supported his bold conceptual explorations. It’s a shame, of course, but hardly a surprise these days, where major labels have all but banished jazz. As usual, Osby leads an interesting band featuring bassist Matthew Brewer, who’s been with him the last couple of times, drummer Tommy Crane, and pianist Frank LoCrasto. Last year LoCrasto released an impressive debut album, When You’re There (MaxJazz); although he plays with a quartet featuring Crane, reedist Chris Cheek, and guitarist Mike Moreno, most of the pieces—all originals—have elaborate arrangements and use a restrained mini-orchestra that gives the tunes a pop-like concision that you might expect from an LA pop factory. The quartet’s frontline activity is fairly subdued but still high-level, so it’s nice that the strings and horns (in this case, bassoon, clarinet, English horn, flute) don’t overwhelm it, instead shading in contours and underlining elegant countermelodies. Naturally, these intricate constructions make me wonder how LoCrasto will sound in the context of Osby’s band.  

International Contemporary Ensemble @ various venues: This new music ensemble started in Chicago and now enjoys a split residency with New York. As this recent piece in the New York Times suggests, the group has quickly become an important presenter of contemporary classical music, encouraging young composers through commissions. They also ditch the rarefied air of classical music that bums out and alienates so many young people. Expediency and comfort guide their venue choices as much as the sound of the room. This weekend kicks off ICE’s fifth annual festival, with concerts all over the city—including the Velvet Lounge, Elastic, and Katerina’s—and it’s hard to imagine the opportunity to hear so much contemporary work in such a concentrated burst any other time of the year. The complete schedule is here. 

Red Krayola and Sir Richard Bishop @ Whole Foods: Well, not in the flesh, but on Saturday afternoon at 2 PM, the Whole Foods stores in Lakeview (3300 N. Ashland), Lincoln Park (1000 W. North), and South Loop (1101 S. Canal) will preview their forthcoming albums on Drag City, Sighs Trapped by Liarsand Polytheistic Fragments. I suppose I'd rather hear Mayo Thompson wailing as I shop than a lot of other things, but this might be pushing lifestyle marketing too far.