Who knows exactly how long Patricia Barber, the gifted and eclectic jazz pianist, has been doing her Monday night gig at the quietly legendary Green Mill Cocktail Lounge. My guess says twenty years but it could easily be more. The two are well matched; a couple of mold breaking classics who naturally complement each other. …
If simmering crowd energy tells you anything about how good a show is going to be, She the People: Girlfriends’ Guide to Sisters Doing It for Themselves on a return run at Second City, promised to be a lot more than a little bit fun. The pre-show soundtrack was jumping and you could almost smell …
A cocktail and a meal can tell you a lot about a place. On one extreme, they can let you know never step foot in there again; or they might induce lingering fantasies. Bellemore, pronounced as if it were two words, dwells in the latter world. Curiosity goes on high boil when you enter …
Jazz in Chicago lends itself to total immersion. Unfortunately, when your music pool is that deep, it’s hard to know the true scope of your live listening options. How many truly wonderful musicians are out there? Who are they and where are they playing? It’s like falling through Alice’s mirror when you unexpectedly find yourself …
Von Freeman Tribute Fires Up Garfield Conservatory Read More »
With the recent release of Marvel’s monstrously successful Black Panther, you hear a lot about a particular kind of thirst being appeased. Black people are elated that they are being depicted as something other than a trite stereotype. In Black Panther, they are strong, smart and courageous. The kind of people who live up to …
Steep ticket prices have long been a deterrent when trying to fill seats at many local theaters. Attempting to emulate the success of Restaurant Week, the local theatre community and city promoters devised Theater Week six years ago to draw an interested public to live theatre. The promotion is an excellent opportunity to see shows …
No Blue Memories: The Life of Gwendolyn Brooks played to a packed house Saturday night. The play, commissioned by the Poetry Foundation to commemorate Gwendolyn’s Brooks centennial year, proved both ambitious and highly successful in its effort to express the breath of the poet’s impact on city of Chicago and the country. Staged in Harold …
Despite the long association the Symphony Center has had with the jazz community, Friday night’s bill seemed particularly unique. Perhaps because the style of jazz being presented stood so far from the type of music you’d expect on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra stage. New Orleans jazz, in its current and perennial form, seems to predate …
The Goodman’s production of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge fits a lot of bills. Typical of Miller, the writing is exceptional. Then you notice its deceptively intricate plot. And as the minutes click by, the play’s characters take on the density of a juicy porter house steak. All perfect ingredients for tragedy at …
Goodman’s A View from the Bridge a Pinnacle of Performance Read More »
Orchestral jazz may sound like a wording error but it’s definitely a thing. A very classy thing in fact; brimming with muscle and finesse. Chicago found itself with a quite nice OJ ensemble when somebody invited Orbert Davis, one of the city’s most respected trumpet players, to think big. That was back in 2004 and …