“You know, even assholes need some love.”

So said Jaimie Branch in a 2019 interview with Aquarium Drunkard. She was explaining “Love Song,” one of the tunes on her 2019 album Fly or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise. And without necessarily trying, Branch was also cluing folks in to the kind of connection that she made with people. Everyone needs some love, true, but not everyone has what it takes to keep the love coming even after they have an asshole’s number. It takes a lot of heart, and Branch had a lot of that. That’s one of the reasons why people loved playing with her and loved listening to her play—and why they were absolutely gutted to find out that she’d died at age 39 in her apartment in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn at 9:21 PM on Monday, August 22. No cause of death has been announced.

Jaimie Branch performs in free-jazz quartet !Mofaya! on the 2021 album Like One Long Dream.

Not everyone who plays free jazz projects that kind of big love—the music doesn’t necessarily require it. Total improvisation often trades in smaller-scale intimacies and epic energies, and Branch could deliver both of those too, with absolute technical and conceptual assurance. People noticed that right away when she began establishing herself in Chicago’s improvised-music community in 2006. But while Branch was particular about the music she embraced, she wasn’t exclusive. She grew up transcribing solos by Miles Davis and Chet Baker, and she fell hard for punk, ska, and hip-hop; she had a feel for abstract styles, and just as firm a grasp on music that communicated directly.

Jaimie Branch onstage with Fly or Die Credit: Peter Gannushkin

Branch also elicited care and loyalty from other musicians on a personal level. In a 2017 Reader profile, Peter Margasak reported that when Branch was entangled in addiction, they pulled for her and supported her. After she got clean and established herself in New York—she arrived there in 2015—she maintained her connections with Chicago. When she made her big break as a bandleader in 2017, it was with a group of fellow Chicagoans: Fly or Die began as Branch, bassist Jason Ajemian, drummer Chad Taylor, and cellist Tomeka Reid (later replaced by Lester St. Louis). The label that has released much of her music, International Anthem, is based in Chicago.

A selection of live and studio tracks from Jaimie Branch’s band Fly or Die

Fly or Die combined the sonics of free jazz with jubilant melodies, celebratory rhythms, and (beginning with their second album) Branch’s take-no-shit singing. When she sang, “This is a love song for assholes and clowns,” she was definitely calling people out. But she also made clear in her between-song banter that she understood that people who think they’re good guys can be assholes, and that even assholes need love. She got people, and people got her. They recognized the human complications that were as much a part of her music as her combo’s practiced rapport and exhilarating spontaneity. 

The video for Fly or Die’s “Prayer for Amerikka Pt. 1 & 2,” which incorporates footage from a 2020 concert in Switzerland

I first learned about Branch’s death on Facebook. Of course, her fellow musicians shared fond memories and stunned grief. But I also saw fans weighing in—I read comment after comment by people who’d found sustenance listening to Branch’s records during the lockdown months, or who’d been moved by a concert in Tennessee or Iowa or Canada. Branch reached people not because she transcended the various radical musics that she played—she didn’t want to transcend them. She pulled those sounds together into something big and loving enough for even the assholes and clowns.

Jaimie Branch introduces Fly or Die as they perform “Love Song” in Columbus, Ohio, in March 2022.

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“You know, even assholes need some love.”

So said Jaimie Branch in a 2019 interview with Aquarium Drunkard. She was explaining “Love Song,” one of the tunes on her 2019 album Fly or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise. And without necessarily trying, Branch was also cluing folks in to the kind of connection that she made with people. Everyone needs some love, true, but not everyone has what it takes to keep the love coming even after they have an asshole’s number. It takes a lot of heart, and Branch had a lot of that. That’s one of the reasons why people loved playing with her and loved listening to her play—and why they were absolutely gutted to find out that she’d died at age 39 in her apartment in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn at 9:21 PM on Monday, August 22. No cause of death has been announced.

Jaimie Branch performs in free-jazz quartet !Mofaya! on the 2021 album Like One Long Dream.

Not everyone who plays free jazz projects that kind of big love—the music doesn’t necessarily require it. Total improvisation often trades in smaller-scale intimacies and epic energies, and Branch could deliver both of those too, with absolute technical and conceptual assurance. People noticed that right away when she began establishing herself in Chicago’s improvised-music community in 2006. But while Branch was particular about the music she embraced, she wasn’t exclusive. She grew up transcribing solos by Miles Davis and Chet Baker, and she fell hard for punk, ska, and hip-hop; she had a feel for abstract styles, and just as firm a grasp on music that communicated directly.

Jaimie Branch onstage with Fly or Die Credit: Peter Gannushkin

Branch also elicited care and loyalty from other musicians on a personal level. In a 2017 Reader profile, Peter Margasak reported that when Branch was entangled in addiction, they pulled for her and supported her. After she got clean and established herself in New York—she arrived there in 2015—she maintained her connections with Chicago. When she made her big break as a bandleader in 2017, it was with a group of fellow Chicagoans: Fly or Die began as Branch, bassist Jason Ajemian, drummer Chad Taylor, and cellist Tomeka Reid (later replaced by Lester St. Louis). The label that has released much of her music, International Anthem, is based in Chicago.

A selection of live and studio tracks from Jaimie Branch’s band Fly or Die

Fly or Die combined the sonics of free jazz with jubilant melodies, celebratory rhythms, and (beginning with their second album) Branch’s take-no-shit singing. When she sang, “This is a love song for assholes and clowns,” she was definitely calling people out. But she also made clear in her between-song banter that she understood that people who think they’re good guys can be assholes, and that even assholes need love. She got people, and people got her. They recognized the human complications that were as much a part of her music as her combo’s practiced rapport and exhilarating spontaneity. 

The video for Fly or Die’s “Prayer for Amerikka Pt. 1 & 2,” which incorporates footage from a 2020 concert in Switzerland

I first learned about Branch’s death on Facebook. Of course, her fellow musicians shared fond memories and stunned grief. But I also saw fans weighing in—I read comment after comment by people who’d found sustenance listening to Branch’s records during the lockdown months, or who’d been moved by a concert in Tennessee or Iowa or Canada. Branch reached people not because she transcended the various radical musics that she played—she didn’t want to transcend them. She pulled those sounds together into something big and loving enough for even the assholes and clowns.

Jaimie Branch introduces Fly or Die as they perform “Love Song” in Columbus, Ohio, in March 2022.

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The casual observer of the NFL probably doesn’t care about the Chicago Bears. Sure, they know the history of 1985 and the long tradition of defense.

However, consider what impression a casual fan would have of the Bears today when in the past 10 years, all the Chicago Bears have given the national media to consume are annual spankings at the hands of the Green Bay Packers and an offensive product mired in mediocrity, particularly at the quarterback position.

As a result, does it comes as any shock when the national media takes the optimistic stance when it comes to other historically well-run organizations and proven coaches/management groups?

What about when they are openly pessimistic about the Chicago Bears, desperately waiting for them to stop living in the past, catch up with the rest of the league, and begin doing things the right way (or whatever they define as the ‘right way’)?

After all, what does an organization which has never had a franchise quarterback know about developing a franchise quarterback?

So what happens when this organization, one which has been seemingly eternally ridiculed for being inept at developing talent on the offensive side of the ball (besides at running back, a now undervalued position across the league), finds itself with a quarterback prospect hailed by the media as a potential franchise-level QB?

Scrutiny happens.

All of a sudden, in a way that Bears fans have never seen before, the national media is concerned with what happens with a player who they predicted could become a decade-long starter on a contending team.

Why? Because the media hates to be wrong. Missing on a prospect like Justin Fields would cause mass confusion. That’s how surefire a talent he was projected to be in the NFL.

Therefore, every decision (or lack thereof) the Bears make in free agency or in the trade market, every pick in the draft, and every snap of camp become media fodder as a narrative is constructed surrounding this young quarterback and his future.

The Chicago Bears are a fine example of a team with pessimism and scrutiny.

How about what former Chicago Bears QB, Jordan Palmer, had to say about Justin Fields’ upcoming season?

I’m not optimistic about how this year is going to go for Fields, largely because of the personnel the Bears put around him.” – Jordan Palmer via Matt Lombardo.

Not satisfied? Perhaps someone on the Rich Eisen show can provide some clarity

Chicago is in a real situation for a team that has so much history and legacy in the NFL to really be a doormat in their division…they lose their best WR in Robinson…Justin Fields is supposed to be the answer but they don’t got anybody around him. – Ryan Leaf via Rich Eisen Podcast

This is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what you’ll find if you look up the Chicago Bears 2022 season outlook. The situation has to be painted as dire as possible so that there can’t be any doubt if Justin Fields proves not to be the guy.

There’s no point in even waiting till the week 1 power rankings come out because I can save you the suspense, the Bears are gonna be 29th at best if their media coverage is any indication of how people feel about this team.

I said previously, that these power rankings aren’t an actual indication of anything, citing the 2021 Eagles and 2020 Bills as examples of teams who had no national love going into their seasons only to wind up in the playoffs.

There isn’t really anything anyone can do to change the perception about the Bears unless the Bears decide to go change it themselves. Darnell Mooney and Cole Kmet have to show that they are reliable contributors.

Montgomery needs to run angry for that second contract. The offensive line, which everyone has ridiculed, has to grow each and every week as they have 3 key starters in either their first or second year. Eberflus needs to show that his HITS principle works and everyone needs to see the defense play with that intensity.

Until then, as unfortunate as it is, the question marks surrounding the Bears’ outlook will always be viewed as negatives rather than positives and it’s a stain only the Chicago Bears can wash out through their play.

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Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky riffs on the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty, and interviews politicians, activists, journalists and other political know-it-alls. Presented by the Chicago Reader, the show is available by 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays at chicagoreader.com/joravsky—or wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t miss Oh, What a Week!–the Friday feature in which Ben & producer Dennis (aka, Dr. D.) review the week’s top stories. Also, bonus interviews drop on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. 

Chicago Reader podcasts are recorded on Shure microphones. Learn more at Shure.com.

Chicago Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky discusses the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty on The Ben Joravsky Show.

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Christian Alexander is the writer and co-star of this world premiere production from his brand-new company, Campfire Repertory Theatre. James (Keith Ferguson) and Michelle (Ashley Graham) come home after what should be a triumphant night. Michelle has starred in a play and expects James to shower her with praise; what she gets instead is a cold bucket of reality. The young couple, who’ve recently moved to Harlem in the 1920s with big dreams, are at a crossroads. James, an aspiring writer, has been supporting them and neglecting his craft while Michelle has been trying to break through on stage without much luck. Her solution is to follow their Black expatriate heroes like Josephine Baker to Paris, where she believes they’ll be appreciated, while he’s not ready to pick up and leave. Things get more complicated when James sells his first novel, brokered by his best friend, Christopher (Alexander), whose motives are anything but altruistic. Michelle’s best friend, Simone (Laura E. Rojas), is hardly an angel on her shoulder either.

Elastic Mind Through 9/4: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM, Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln, 773-404-7336, greenhousetheater.org, $35-$45 ($25 students with ID at box office only)

For a first effort, Alexander has chosen to dive into the deep end of the pool, but his baby comes out smelling like a rose. He somehow balances marital tensions, racism, artistic ambition, and jealousy in a story that could’ve veered into melodrama and overkill a dozen times over but never does. His talented cast deserves a lot of the credit, but Alexander deserves major kudos for keeping this multileveled ship afloat and not falling back on obvious sentimentality or cheap shock value. I’m excited to see what he writes next.

Introducing his play (directed by Weléla Mar Kindred) before the curtain, Alexander stressed that this is a Black play rather than a Eurocentric one and urged the audience to call out and comment on the action in ways generally frowned upon in traditional theater presentations. And his audience didn’t disappoint. They rooted for James and criticized Michelle one minute, then changed their minds as the couple put each other through torments. Their engagement and participation added to the experience of taking in a production that heralds an exciting new voice on the local scene. 

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Organizational consulting is like a cube of lard: it looks like a sweet bite of white chocolate but sits heavy in the stomach. Stupid people are to be avoided, like how a dry foot rejects a wet sock. Working is like drinking salt water. Women with whom men have affairs are martini olives. Playwright and Yellow Rose Theater founder Joseph Zaki’s two-act sci-fi morality play, Gigi’s Party, purports to be an exploration of faith, the future of health care, and bodily autonomy, but it’s more memorable as perhaps the most peculiar collection of head-scratcher analogies and similes to be put onstage.

Gigi’s PartyThrough 9/3: Thu-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 3 and 7:30 PM, Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee, 773-697-3830, gigisparty.com, $33 ($22 seniors)

Gigi (Katherine Wettermann), a not-quite-middle-aged corporate executive, decides to throw herself an assisted-suicide “D Party” far earlier than the 70-to-150-year life expectancy enabled by modern medicine, which has all but eliminated the most common causes of natural death. Her announcement is met with horror by her loving husband (Sean Frett) and a mix of curiosity, conflict, and some respect from her friends and colleagues, including her genetic engineer lover (Kieran O’Connor). Director Kelly Levander’s production touches on significant and well-trodden existential themes common in hard science fiction, and creates some fun 2058 world-building, like the existence of 3D-printed designer apparel. But the performances are rendered so strange by inscrutable plot tangents, gravel-smooth dialogue, and the sort of character choices that feel more at home in a surreal Yorgos Lanthimos movie (at one point, adversaries at a bar inexplicably begin sliding beer bottles back and forth and call out chess moves) than the straightforward play Gigi’s Party is styled as. It certainly leaves audiences with questions. Just not the right kind. 

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