Howard Reich

It was Gregory Porter’s night. How many other soloists who take the stage of Orchestra Hall, after all, are greeted with screams from the crowd before producing a note? Porter...

One sure sign that summer approaches: Judy Roberts is back in town. The former Chicagoan moved to Arizona in 2007 but returns each year at this time, kicking off her...

At age 6 or 7, remembers singer Gregory Porter, he made a homemade tape recording of himself singing, played it for his mother and was struck by her response. “She...

Jazz long has been at the forefront of social change in America. So perhaps it should have come as no surprise that when Chicago trumpeter Orbert Davis learned of President...

When Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater roared onto a stage, listeners were startled by what they saw and heard. As if his gutsy guitar playing and growling vocals weren’t enough, Clearwater...

If Dee Dee Bridgewater hadn’t sung a note Friday night in Orchestra Hall, she probably would have kept the audience fully engaged with the way she prowled, strutted, tip-toed and...

When singer Dee Dee Bridgewater was a teenager growing up in Flint, Mich., she found comfort and inspiration from a radio station broadcasting out of Memphis, Tenn., where she was...

At first glance, the lineup for the 12th annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival suggests a bulging array of styles and musical idioms. For any event that features singer Dee Alexander...

“It’s good to be back home,” saxophonist Chico Freeman told the audience Thursday night at the Jazz Showcase, and he obviously meant it. For once the former Chicagoan picked up...

Ella Fitzgerald played there. So did Lenny Bruce and Mel Torme, Barbra Streisand and Muddy Waters, Anita O’Day and Billie Holiday, Curtis Mayfield and Frank D’Rone, Dick Gregory and Tom...