But lately pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson, and drummer Dave King have switched to original material, making albums no less daunting, original, and energetic-the new It’s Hard, where they cover the likes of Peter Gabriel, Kraftwerk, and TV on the Radio, is their first collection of pop adaptations in seven years. Postmodern piano trio the Bad Plus made their name with wildly inventive interpretations of songs by artists well outside the jazz canon-Aphex Twin, Rush, David Bowie-and their radical arrangements, which easily could’ve sounded like arch jokes, instead displayed a genuine ardor for the repertoire. She and her band make it seem easy, even logical, to veer from the hard-driving, jagged lines of “Anat’s Dance” (composed by Lindner) to a leisurely, nostalgic spin through the Edith Piaf vehicle “La Vie en Rose” (with fat-toned trombone by guest Wycliffe Gordon, who also sings a verse in a Satchmo-style growl) to a sweetly lyrical, sweeping version of the Milton Nascimento classic “Tudo Que Você Podia Ser.” -Peter MargasakĨ:30 PM | The Bad Plus perform Ornette Coleman’s Science Fiction Though Cohen plays a bit of soprano and tenor saxophone, she’s made her name with her sublime clarinet work-tonally pure, rhythmically agile, and harmonically plush. (The title is a Spanish word for the play of light and shade.) On that record she deftly weaves together most of the threads she addresses separately in her multifarious projects, including Brazilian music, classic swing, and postbop. Tonight she brings her fleet working quartet-pianist Jason Lindner, bassist Joe Martin, and drummer Daniel Freedman-who most recently appeared with her on the 2012 album Claroscuro. She’s demonstrated a voracious curiosity, balancing a strong feel for hard-swinging postbop with a serious affinity for Brazilian choro, an instrumental cousin of samba whose spirited improvisational ethos can make it feel a lot like jazz. John CorbettĬlaroscuro by Anat Cohen Claroscuro by Anat Cohenįor much of the past decade, reedist Anat Cohen has been the face of the bustling community of Israeli jazz musicians working in New York. August and Royston will also accompany Allen today. This year he released another stellar album, Americana: Musings on Jazz and Blues, with the same lineup it recalls Rollins’s Freedom Suite in spots. The best of the batch, 2015’s Graffiti, is a hard-core trio recording with insightful storytelling by Allen, supported by the riveting rhythm team of bassist Gregg August and drummer Rudy Royston. His sound sidesteps the conservative-versus-avant arguments that have haunted ambitious saxophonists for the past couple decades: he casually brings together different approaches, writes memorable new compositions, and comports himself in a way that strikes me as reminiscent of no less towering a figure than Sonny Rollins. After coming up working with singer Betty Carter, he put in time on all sorts of different fronts, then forged out on his own in 2008 with I Am I Am, the first in an ongoing string of highly individual and spectacularly successful albums. Best of Chicago 2022: Sports & Recreationįor years Detroit-raised tenor saxophonist JD Allen was just a name lurking in the credits of other people’s records.Best of Chicago 2022: Music & Nightlife.Get your Best of Chicago tickets! Line-Up Announced > Close
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