Howard Reich

To the uninitiated, jazz can seem complex, arcane, challenging. Even those who instinctively respond to its dynamism might wonder how it's possible for several musicians to improvise freely alongside one...

More than two decades ago, Orchestra Hall launched a jazz series that has become indispensable to music in Chicago. For though intimate rooms such as the Jazz Showcase, Green Mill,...

Even if pianist Jean-Michel Pilc didn't possess a formidable technique, his work would command attention for its creative restlessness. Though most of his first set Friday night at the Green...

No one mentioned it onstage, but Dr. Lonnie Smith is having a very good year. Earlier this month, he received a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Fellowship, widely...

Famous but underrated, widely imitated but never equaled, Ella Fitzgerald has proven a surprisingly elusive figure in American culture. For though practically everyone admires the brilliance of Fitzgerald's technique and...

There's no shortage of concerts honoring past masters of jazz, simply because so many legends have left us in the past couple decades. But the event that drew a large...

At age 85, singer-pianist Freddy Cole doesn't have much left to prove. A younger brother of Nat King Cole, he long ago established a musical identity of his own. True,...

The Rance Allen Group, a tribute to Jessy Dixon and Jonathan McReynolds with guests Anthony Brown and Travis Greene will headline the 32nd Chicago Gospel Music Festival, running June 2-3...

It's difficult to overstate Oscar Peterson's importance as a jazz pianist, the wizardry of his technique matched by the exuberance of his approach to swing rhythm and the beauty of...