The acclaimed Umbrella Music Festival returns November 3-7 for its fifth annual celebration of jazz and improvised music from Chicago and beyond. The festival opens with a special evening of free concerts dubbed “European Jazz Meets Chicago,” co-presented by Umbrella Music, the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and 10 different European consulates and cultural organizations.
Mike Reed
What We’re Seeing Sunday: Mike Reed’s Loose Assembly
With a melody-filled free-jazz oeuvre, Chicago drummer Mike Reed gathers a host of exceptional local jazz performers for his Loose Assembly, including saxophonist Greg Ward, vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, cellist Tomeka Reid and bassist Josh Abrams.
Interview with Able Baker Fox
Following eight months of online riff-swapping, the scattered Midwesterners of Able Baker Fox rehearsed only once before recording their upcoming debut, Voices, in less than a week at the studio of engineer/producer Ed Rose (Coalesce, The Get Up Kids, Reggie and the Full Effect). Merging old tour buddies and collaborators from melodic post-hardcore groups Small Brown Bike and The Casket Lottery, its members say a combination of history and distance made the record “effortless.”