What’s New

Hard times will bring out anyone’s true colors, and the Hyde Park Jazz Festival certainly showed what it was made of when COVID-19 brought live music to a halt in 2020. Its organizers emulated the music that the festival supports, improvising ways to support local jazz. First, they arranged the Jazz Postcards series, small-scale outdoor concerts that popped up around the city. Then, while most festivals took the year off, they staged the 2020 festival in parks and on sidewalks around Hyde Park and adjacent neighborhoods. This year, the HPJF resumes business as usual, staging concerts inside churches, museums, and performance spaces as well as on two big outdoor stages that face each other on the Midway Plaisance. The programming combines a complement of musicians who have maintained lifelong commitments to the south side—including storyteller Maggie Brown, saxophonist Ernest Dawkins, and singer Dee Alexander—with adventurous artists from the rest of the city and far beyond. Pianist Jim Baker and the drums-and-reeds duo of Mike Reed and Hunter Diamond exemplify the city’s robust avant-garde community; the Chris Greene Quartet represents the mainstream. Darren Johnston, a New York-based Canadian trumpeter, will reunite with the splendid Chicago-based band he enlisted to record his briskly lyrical new album, Life in Time (Delmark). The Chicago-Amsterdam quartet These Things Happen will celebrate the release of their debut mini album, which balances deeply felt originals with swaggering interpretations of material by Herbie Nichols, Dewey Redman, and Thelonious Monk. Electric guitarist and former Chicagoan Jeff Parker will reveal the ways that old soul and new technologies enrich his playing. New York-based pianist David Virelles, whose recent CD Nuna (Pi) reconciles classical rigor and Cuban rhythms, will present a solo recital. And in a first-time encounter, pan-national string trio Hear in Now, which includes local cellist Tomeka Reid, will workshop and perform a set of new material with improvisational Ethiopian-based ensemble Qwanqwa.

Hyde Park Jazz Festival Today the festival takes place at 13 venues around the neighborhood, including two outdoor stages on the Midway Plaisance, the Logan Center for the Arts, Rockefeller Chapel, the Smart Museum, and Little Black Pearl. Sat 9/24, 11 AM-10:30 PM, complete schedule at hydeparkjazzfestival.org, $10 suggested donation, all ages

Hyde Park Jazz Festival The second and final day of the fest takes place at two outdoor stages on the Midway Plaisance. In order of performance, the Wagner Stage (at S. Woodlawn) features the Orbert Davis Sextet, the Chicago Soul Jazz Collective with Dee Alexander, and the Victor Garcia Sextet; the West Stage (at S. Ellis) features Johnny Blas and Clif Wallace + Five. Sun 9/25, 2-7 PM (Wagner Stage) and 3-6 PM (West Stage), complete schedule at hydeparkjazzfestival.org, $10 suggested donation, all ages

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Flutist Nicole Mitchell and composer Fabio Paolizzo first performed together live in 2018, in a concert at the University of California, Irvine. More accurately, Mitchell played a duo set with VIVO (Video Interaction VST Orchestra), a machine-learning program engineered by Paolizzo, which recorded her flute and voice improvisations and generated real-time accompaniment through loops and synths. A year later, Mitchell and Paolizzo reprised their collaboration at the same venue, then recorded it on the studio album Medusae, which they’re releasing this month on Don Giovanni. 

Deputizing autonomous tech as a musical partner is nothing new. Trombonist and computer-music pioneer George Lewis—like Mitchell, a product of Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians—famously employed it on his 1987 work Voyager, as well as in its recently mastered and released predecessor, Rainbow Family. But VIVO has a secret weapon: a camera, which adds the extra layer of optically processing Mitchell’s movements as well as her aural cues. (In case you’re flummoxed, Paolizzo has published scholarly articles which provide a more extensive explanation of VIVO’s functionality.) 

VIVO’s AI is more subtle than the chattier digital interlocutor of Voyager. It mostly buttresses and manipulates Mitchell’s lines, rather than responding with its own knotty improvisations. But the way it does so can be downright frightful: the gusty “Gametes” sounds like being inside a glass bottle as it’s blown, and parts of “Perils to Beauty” get pretty close to the music I imagine the devil’s organist might play in hell. VIVO’s technological sophistication is a marvel, but you don’t have to care about that to find Medusae a deeply satisfying spin. It’s an aural hall of mirrors, delightful in its disorientation.

Nicole Mitchell & Fabio Paolizzo’s Medusae is available through Rough Trade.

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Flutist Nicole Mitchell and composer Fabio Paolizzo first performed together live in 2018, in a concert at the University of California, Irvine. More accurately, Mitchell played a duo set with VIVO (Video Interaction VST Orchestra), a machine-learning program engineered by Paolizzo, which recorded her flute and voice improvisations and generated real-time accompaniment through loops and synths. A year later, Mitchell and Paolizzo reprised their collaboration at the same venue, then recorded it on the studio album Medusae, which they’re releasing this month on Don Giovanni. 

Deputizing autonomous tech as a musical partner is nothing new. Trombonist and computer-music pioneer George Lewis—like Mitchell, a product of Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians—famously employed it on his 1987 work Voyager, as well as in its recently mastered and released predecessor, Rainbow Family. But VIVO has a secret weapon: a camera, which adds the extra layer of optically processing Mitchell’s movements as well as her aural cues. (In case you’re flummoxed, Paolizzo has published scholarly articles which provide a more extensive explanation of VIVO’s functionality.) 

VIVO’s AI is more subtle than the chattier digital interlocutor of Voyager. It mostly buttresses and manipulates Mitchell’s lines, rather than responding with its own knotty improvisations. But the way it does so can be downright frightful: the gusty “Gametes” sounds like being inside a glass bottle as it’s blown, and parts of “Perils to Beauty” get pretty close to the music I imagine the devil’s organist might play in hell. VIVO’s technological sophistication is a marvel, but you don’t have to care about that to find Medusae a deeply satisfying spin. It’s an aural hall of mirrors, delightful in its disorientation.

Nicole Mitchell & Fabio Paolizzo’s Medusae is available through Rough Trade.

Read More

Hard times will bring out anyone’s true colors, and the Hyde Park Jazz Festival certainly showed what it was made of when COVID-19 brought live music to a halt in 2020. Its organizers emulated the music that the festival supports, improvising ways to support local jazz. First, they arranged the Jazz Postcards series, small-scale outdoor concerts that popped up around the city. Then, while most festivals took the year off, they staged the 2020 festival in parks and on sidewalks around Hyde Park and adjacent neighborhoods. This year, the HPJF resumes business as usual, staging concerts inside churches, museums, and performance spaces as well as on two big outdoor stages that face each other on the Midway Plaisance. The programming combines a complement of musicians who have maintained lifelong commitments to the south side—including storyteller Maggie Brown, saxophonist Ernest Dawkins, and singer Dee Alexander—with adventurous artists from the rest of the city and far beyond. Pianist Jim Baker and the drums-and-reeds duo of Mike Reed and Hunter Diamond exemplify the city’s robust avant-garde community; the Chris Greene Quartet represents the mainstream. Darren Johnston, a New York-based Canadian trumpeter, will reunite with the splendid Chicago-based band he enlisted to record his briskly lyrical new album, Life in Time (Delmark). The Chicago-Amsterdam quartet These Things Happen will celebrate the release of their debut mini album, which balances deeply felt originals with swaggering interpretations of material by Herbie Nichols, Dewey Redman, and Thelonious Monk. Electric guitarist and former Chicagoan Jeff Parker will reveal the ways that old soul and new technologies enrich his playing. New York-based pianist David Virelles, whose recent CD Nuna (Pi) reconciles classical rigor and Cuban rhythms, will present a solo recital. And in a first-time encounter, pan-national string trio Hear in Now, which includes local cellist Tomeka Reid, will workshop and perform a set of new material with improvisational Ethiopian-based ensemble Qwanqwa.

Hyde Park Jazz Festival Today the festival takes place at 13 venues around the neighborhood, including two outdoor stages on the Midway Plaisance, the Logan Center for the Arts, Rockefeller Chapel, the Smart Museum, and Little Black Pearl. Sat 9/24, 11 AM-10:30 PM, complete schedule at hydeparkjazzfestival.org, $10 suggested donation, all ages

Hyde Park Jazz Festival The second and final day of the fest takes place at two outdoor stages on the Midway Plaisance. In order of performance, the Wagner Stage (at S. Woodlawn) features the Orbert Davis Sextet, the Chicago Soul Jazz Collective with Dee Alexander, and the Victor Garcia Sextet; the West Stage (at S. Ellis) features Johnny Blas and Clif Wallace + Five. Sun 9/25, 2-7 PM (Wagner Stage) and 3-6 PM (West Stage), complete schedule at hydeparkjazzfestival.org, $10 suggested donation, all ages

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It is that time of year again. The Chicago Blackhawks and the rest of the National Hockey League are starting to get going again. As of right now, the rookies are beginning to show up to their cities to get ready for a big year.

Some of them will be in the NHL, some in the AHL, and some of them will head back to various junior teams around the world. For the Blackhawks, there are a lot of new young players to be excited about.

A year ago, the Hawks were trying (failing) to put together a team that was going to win. They got off to a horrendous start which caused them to have an abysmal year. Now, the Hawks are clearly focused on building for the future.

On Wednesday, the Chicago Blackhawks announced their roster for the 2022 Tom Kurvers Prospect Challenge. This is a group of 13 forwards, eight defensemen, and two goalies that will show off prospects at Fifth Third Arena.

There are practices and two games against the Minnesota Wild as a part of this event. It is a great way for people to see what is going on with some of these young kids.

This group is made up of a bunch of kids that are former Blackhahwks’ draft picks. These are the three players on the roster to keep an extra close eye on:

1. Lukas Riechel

Lukas Reichel is the top prospect in the organization right now. He was Chicago’s first-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft and has proven to be a very exciting player. With the Rockford Ice Hogs in 2021-22, he put on a show.

Reichel made his NHL debut in 2021-22 as well and didn’t look out of place at all. He has a long way to go before the is a full-time difference maker but there is no doubt that he is going to be a very good player. All eyes will be on him in this showcase.

2. Alex Vlasic

Alex Vlasic was a stud defenseman for Boston University during his time there. That led to him being a second-round pick by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2019 NHL Draft.

He was also a part of that amazing 2018-19 United States Development Program team that saw so many players drafted in the first two rounds.

Once Vlasic finished with Boston University at the end of the 2022 season, he signed with the Hawks and played 15 games with them.

Vlasic isn’t a star-scoring defenseman but he is really solid with his skating which allows him to shut down opponents.

He does have the ability to create some offense when needed but he only had one goal and one assist for two points in those 15 games. He can get some muscle behind his slapshot which will help his offensive game but that isn’t the key to his game.

Vlasic is worth keeping an eye on because of his ability to shut people down. Because of these abilities, the Hawks might see him as a part of their future defense core. This showcase, training camp, and the preseason could land him a job with the big club this year.

3. Kevin Korchinski

Kevin Korchinski is one of four players from the 2022 NHL Draft that are going to be participating in this thing. It will be a great way for this highly touted Blackhawks draft pick to show just how good the is compared to his similarly aged peers.

If Korchinski can play really well over the next few weeks (even beyond this showcase), it will make Kyle Davidson look really smart for wanting this guy so badly. Hopefully, he is able to show his stuff well in this showcase. This will be the first time we get to get a really good look at him.

The Chicago Blackhawks need the future to be bright for a lot of these kids.

Obviously, the Chicago Blackhawks are nowhere near done with their rebuild just because they have some nice prospects there.

The 2023 NHL Draft could land them a really good player at the top of the board if they play their cards right and they get a little lucky. For now, it is about the kids they do have in the mix and seeing what can be next for them and this organization.

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Maybe it’s a given for a paper so rooted in Chicago culture, but the theater and arts preview special issues are a big deal for us here at the Reader.

Lately, we’ve been putting out almost one per season, which means that by the time we wrap up one, we’re nearly due to start planning for the next. It can feel exhausting to editors like me who cover the arts, but it can also be uniquely invigorating. These preview issues always remind me that things are happening in our city. Writers send extra pitches, eager to call dibs on covering upcoming events; advertisers are extra engaged, booking far in advance with the anticipation of a supersized print issue; and readers across the city pick up extra copies, knowing that each one is a comprehensive and reliable schedule for the season.

The fall edition, in particular, helps provide some solace at a time when I, for one, am completely in denial about the impending turn of the weather. But after creating this jam-packed issue, which teases film screenings, book releases, art exhibitions, and more, I’m in no hurry to hunker down indoors and wait for winter—Chicago is calling.

Read More

Maybe it’s a given for a paper so rooted in Chicago culture, but the theater and arts preview special issues are a big deal for us here at the Reader.

Lately, we’ve been putting out almost one per season, which means that by the time we wrap up one, we’re nearly due to start planning for the next. It can feel exhausting to editors like me who cover the arts, but it can also be uniquely invigorating. These preview issues always remind me that things are happening in our city. Writers send extra pitches, eager to call dibs on covering upcoming events; advertisers are extra engaged, booking far in advance with the anticipation of a supersized print issue; and readers across the city pick up extra copies, knowing that each one is a comprehensive and reliable schedule for the season.

The fall edition, in particular, helps provide some solace at a time when I, for one, am completely in denial about the impending turn of the weather. But after creating this jam-packed issue, which teases film screenings, book releases, art exhibitions, and more, I’m in no hurry to hunker down indoors and wait for winter—Chicago is calling.

Read More