Howard Reich – Page 24

Clarinetist Anat Cohen performs with her Anat Cohen Tentet, including guitarist Sheryl Bailey and bassist Tal Mashiach, at Symphony Center Friday, Feb. 1, 2019, in Chicago.

Best jazz albums of 2019: Dee Alexander, Miguel Zenon and Anat Cohen Tentet had a very good year

December 18, 2019 at 8:57 a.m.

The creativity of today's jazz artists never ceases to amaze, as this year's best recordings attest: Patricia Barber: "Higher" (ArtistShare). Listeners have come to expect surprises from singer-pianist-songwriter Barber, who's...

Marcus Roberts and his trio performing an improvised "Rhapsody in Blue" with the Chicago Sinfonietta at North Central College's Wentz Concert Hall in Naperville, Ill. Friday, May 12, 2017.

Piano master Marcus Roberts will reinvent Gershwin’s Concerto in F with Chicago Philharmonic

December 2, 2019 at 11:50 a.m.

In 1995, pianist Marcus Roberts made musical history leading his jazz trio in an improvised version of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra at the long-gone...

Opera and jazz reviews: Radvanovsky excels in Lyric’s ‘Three Queens’; rambunctious saxes at Green Mill

December 2, 2019 at 12:53 p.m.

Executioners were quite busy Sunday afternoon at Lyric Opera, where various characters came to unfortunate ends. Before they succumbed, however, torrents of notes were expended on their behalf, most sung...

Sacred jazz: Reflections on a rare performance of Marsalis’ ‘Abyssinian Mass’

November 27, 2019 at 12:31 p.m.

Since its beginnings, jazz has been draped in the image of sin. Because the music emerged, in part, in the bordellos of New Orleans' Storyville vice district at the turn...

American jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove performs at the Five Continents Jazz festival, in Marseille, southern France July 26, 2018.

A musical feast for the holiday weekend

November 25, 2019 at 11:59 a.m.

Chicago listeners have a great deal to be thankful for this holiday weekend. Among the highlights: Remembering Dave Brubeck It's difficult to overestimate the contributions of pianist-composer-bandleader Brubeck, whose classically...

CSO review: Conductor Juanjo Mena summons power without noise

November 24, 2019 at 9:54 a.m.

Conductor Juanjo Mena had ample opportunity to go bombastic during Saturday night's Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert. For both Gustav Holst's "The Planets" and James Lee III's "Sukkot Through Orion's Nebula"...

This cover image released by Bloodshot Records shows "Let it Be Guitar!" by Joel Paterson

Chicago guitarist Joel Paterson brings his jazzy, ’50s style to music of the Beatles

November 21, 2019 at 9:13 a.m.

Two years ago, Chicagoan Joel Paterson released his "Hi-Fi Christmas Guitar" album and realized he had a problem: He couldn't keep up with demand. "I was kind of taken aback...

‘Silenced Voices’: A haunting album with music from those who died in the Holocaust

November 20, 2019 at 8:45 a.m.

The sounds are emotionally intense, openly melodic and urgently expressive. They were penned by young musicians who would not survive the Holocaust. But even if you didn't know the histories...

Review: Celebrating Sondheim isn’t easy, as a major tribute proves

November 18, 2019 at 12:51 p.m.

No single concert could possibly capture the stylistic breadth and expressive range of Stephen Sondheim's music, but hats off to anyone who tries. That includes the forces that staged "Chicago...

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra review: Wynton Marsalis and friends take on ‘Jazz Ambassadors’

November 16, 2019 at 10:13 a.m.

You rarely see Orchestra Hall as packed as it was on Friday night, even the terrace seating behind the stage jammed with listeners. But that's become a kind of norm...

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