Sounds from Chicago

Over the past year (or more) Chicago has been coming to me. Let's arbitrarily pick a date to begin: January 2016 kicked off with saxophonist Ken Vandermark's week long residency at the Stone. It was a brilliant one, with performances by many of his collaborations, including Made to Break and the duos with Paal Nilssen-Love and Nate Wooley. This was followed by the residency of ex-Chicagoan Matana Roberts, who played at least one set with current Chicagoan Tomeka Reid. Then there were sets by Jason Stein at Downtown Music Gallery, Rye in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and Madison Square Garden, of course.

I had my mind-boggled at a Revolution Arts show featuring Dave Rempis and then there was Tim Daisy on the ground at IBeam last Fall. Just last week Ken Vandermark and The Few were playing in Williamsburg, and I am positive that there are a whole bunch of other shows I am forgetting, and then, all the ones I wasn't aware of.

So, this week the Free Jazz Blog would like to bring a little Chicago to you: a week of reviews connected by the people and spirit that permeates the musicians from the Jewel of the Midwest.

We kick off this week with Eyal Hareuveni's review of three new Made to Break albums, released on Ken Vandermark's new download imprint "Systems vs. Artifacts" at Audiographic records.

- Paul