Howard Reich – Page 61

Nick Cave has been singing about mortality for decades, and he's really good at it. Whether the narratives are biblical or pulpy, the victims innocents or death row convicts, the circumstances comprehensible or cruelly random, Cave's songs are on intimate terms with the infinite ways a life can be extinguished. And yet, "Skeleton Tree", his latest album with his estimable band, the Bad Seeds, is a relatively concise song cycle shadowed by death that feels different than all the rest. <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/kot/sc-music-nick-cave-skeleton-tree-ent-0916-20160916-column.html" target="_blank">Read the full review.</a>

Holocaust survivor Aaron Elster, who shared his story ‘to convince people to stop hating each other,’ dies at 86

May 8, 2019 at 10:42 a.m.

For nearly two years, Aaron Elster hid from Nazis in an attic, his identity as a Jewish boy in Poland a death sentence if he were to be discovered. In...

Chicago guitar legend George Freeman’s career accelerating at 91

May 8, 2019 at 10:42 a.m.

This weekend, Chicago music lovers will celebrate an occasion that ought to be considered a civic holiday: guitarist George Freeman's 91st birthday. Though Freeman reached the milestone Tuesday, he'll officially...

MacArthur Foundation to give $24.3 million to Chicago-area arts groups

May 8, 2019 at 10:42 a.m.

The Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, in partnership with the Prince Charitable Trusts and the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, will invest $24.3 million over the next five...

Celebrating the music of piano giant Willie Pickens

May 8, 2019 at 10:42 a.m.

The death of a widely beloved musician always comes as a jolt, and especially so in the case of Chicago piano giant Willie Pickens. For until his death last December,...

‘Songs of Freedom’ digs into bracing music of the 1960s

May 8, 2019 at 10:42 a.m.

The transcendent moment in "Songs of Freedom," drummer Ulysses Owens Jr.'s reflection on music of the turbulent 1960s, sneaked up on listeners. For after hearing inspired but straightforward readings of...

From Henry Johnson to ‘Tootie’ Heath to Patricia Barber, a busy jazz week in Chicago

May 8, 2019 at 10:42 a.m.

The next several evenings will offer provocative listening in jazz. Among the highlights: Henry Johnson at the Jazz Showcase: Originally, the mighty New Orleans pianist-singer Henry Butler was to have...

Miles Davis plays his last Chicago concert in Grant Park in 1991.

From Miles Davis to Bob Hope: Jazz critic Howard Reich looks back through 40 years of indelible performances

May 8, 2019 at 10:42 a.m.

Forty years ago, a very fortunate young piano major at Northwestern University began writing about music and the arts for his hometown paper, the Tribune. That first piece, published in...

Singer-pianist Audrey Morris performs during "Oscar, with Love: A Tribute to Oscar Peterson," at Symphony Center in April 2017.

Singer-pianist Audrey Morris dies at 89, was an icon of Chicago cabaret and jazz

May 8, 2019 at 10:42 a.m.

In the world of Chicago cabaret, no singer-pianist was revered more by peers than Audrey Morris. The extraordinary subtlety of her vocals, sophistication of her pianism and worldly wise manner...

Pianist-singer Johnny O'Neal proved himself an artist of remarkable expressive range on March 31, 2018, at Winter's Jazz Club.

The many facets of Johnny O’Neal play out at Winter’s Jazz Club

May 8, 2019 at 10:42 a.m.

If Johnny O’Neal didn’t play the piano, he would rank as one of the more compelling vocalists in jazz. If he didn’t sing a note, he would stand as one...

Loyola Pep Band Director Rick Lowe leads his students in a final rehearsal at Gentile Arena on March 28, 2018.

Loyola’s pep band preps for Final Four

May 8, 2019 at 10:42 a.m.

If you thought the Loyola Ramblers are good at what they do, you should check out the Band of Wolves. That’s the school’s pep band, which plays all the team’s...

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