July 02--The holiday weekend's fireworks won't be confined to the nighttime sky, with several of the city's best musicians attempting to ignite them on stage.
Among the highlights:
Eric Schneider: On most Friday nights, ace Chicago saxophonist-clarinetist Schneider leads the late-hours jam session that runs until 4 a.m. Saturday at the Green Mill Jazz Club. This weekend Schneider will do double duty, also playing the headline sets on Friday and Saturday evenings, giving listeners a chance to hear a Chicago jazz veteran who has worked in the company of no less than Earl Hines and Count Basie. Yes, swing rhythm courses through Schneider's music and identity. He'll share the stage with pianist Jeremy Kahn, guitarist Andy Brown, bassist John Sims and drummer Kyle Swan on Friday; Luxion will take over the piano role on Saturday. 9 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday at the Green Mill Jazz Club, 4802 N. Broadway; $12; 773-878-5552 or greenmilljazz.com
Two for Brazil: For this occasion, perhaps this group should be renamed Three for Brazil, since guitarist Paulinho Garcia and saxophonist Greg Fishman will be joined by vocalist Grazyna Auguscik. Each of these players has worked with the others in varying contexts, but the performances will carry extra poignancy because one of them will be leaving Chicago as soon as the engagement ends. Brazilian singer-guitarist Garcia, who has lived here for the past 36 years, will be driving west to Los Angeles, where he will be opening a new chapter of his life and career. Chicago will miss Garcia's distinctively seductive vocals and softly shimmering guitar work, for sure, but Garcia promises to return here for specific engagements and summertime residencies. 8 and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 4, 8 and 10 p.m. Sunday; at the Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Court; $20-$35; 312-360-0234 or jazzshowcase.com
Mike Lebrun: Chicago jazz audiences may know saxophonist Lebrun best from his past work with pianist Josh Moshier, the two alumni of Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music having collaborated on the recordings "The Local Colorists" (2013) and "Joy Not Jaded" (2009) and, most famously, on their concert performance of Moshier's "The Studs Terkel Project," which was broadcast on National Public Radio. But Moshier has moved on to Los Angeles to create film and television scores, while Lebrun stands as a soloist-bandleader in his own right, having placed as a semi-finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in 2013. He'll lead his quintet at 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Andy's Jazz Club, 11 E. Hubbard St.; $15; 312-642-6805 or andysjazzclub.com
Sabertooth Organ Quartet: For more than two decades, this hard-hitting band has been keeping a lot of Chicagoans awake as Saturday night swung into Sunday morning at the Green Mill Jazz Club. With saxophonists Cameron Pfiffner and Pat Mallinger holding up the front line and drummer Ted Sirota and organist Pete Benson egging them on, Sabertooth has long since qualified as a Chicago jazz institution, although one that toils long after many listeners have headed home for the night. Midnight Saturday to 5 a.m. Sunday at the Green Mill Jazz Club, 4802 N. Broadway; $5 cover from midnight to 2 a.m. Sunday; no cover from 2 to 5 a.m. Sunday; 773-878-5552 or greenmilljazz.com
Paul Marinaro: Ever since Marinaro released his stunning debut recording, "Without a Song," in 2013, his profile as jazz singer has been rising swiftly and steadily in Chicago and beyond. And for good reason: The recording introduced listeners to Marinaro's supple baritone, his innate sense of swing and his uncommon sensitivity in jazz balladry. Marinaro's fans will be glad to know that he recently recorded a follow-up album, which looks as if it will be the freewheeling antithesis of the long-gestating "Without a Song": a live album made before an audience at the High Hat Club (formerly Katerina's). Live performances, of course, matter most, and Marinaro devotees can catch him in his new Sunday-evening home, accompanied by guitarist Mike Allemana. 7 and 8:30 p.m. Sunday at Jack's on Halsted, 3201 N. Halsted St.; no cover charge; 773-244-9191 or jacksonhalstedchicago.com
Charles "Rick" Heath: Once you've kept time for Ramsey Lewis, Von Freeman and McCoy Tyner, you've established that you can hold your own in pretty much any company. That Heath works busily as jazz impresario and teacher only deepens his importance to music in Chicago. For this appearance Heath will be stepping out front, leading his own band in one of the most inviting and communal jazz gatherings in the city: the weekly sessions presented by the non-profit Hyde Park Jazz Society. 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. Sunday at Room 43, 1043 E. 43d St.; $10; hydeparkjazzsociety.com
Pharez Whitted: The brilliant Chicago trumpeter tends to sound larger than life, but he has another virtue, as well: his role in nurturing future generations. He does that in many settings, but most prominently every Sunday at Andy's Jazz Club, where he leads a jam session with comparably accomplished players, the pros welcoming emerging artists to the stage. 9:30 and 11:30 p.m. Sunday at Andy's Jazz Club, 11 E. Hubbard St.; $10; free for performing musicians; 312-642-6805 or andysjazzclub.com
Judy Roberts and Greg Fishman: Shortly after beloved singer-pianist Roberts and her husband, saxophonist Fishman, lost their long-running, Sunday-nights engagement at Chambers, in Niles, they re-merged at Marie's Pizza, a comparably congenial setting. Not exactly a supper club like Chambers, Marie's feels more like a casual neighborhood spot, with Roberts and Fishman dispensing jazz standards at the center of the dining room. The change of location reminds us that Roberts has a knack for turning any venue into an intimate performance space. 5 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday at Marie's Pizza, 4127 W. Lawrence Ave.; no cover charge; 773-725-1812 or mariespizzachicago.com
hreich@tribpub.com
"Portraits in Jazz": Howard Reich's e-book collects his exclusive interviews with Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald and ohters, as well as profiles of early masters such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday. Get "Portraits in Jazz" at chicagotribune.com/ebooks.
