Charlie Ballantine
Charlie Ballantine — The Bur Oak — Friday, September 10, 2021 — 8PM
Interview date: 08/29/2021
Guitarist Charlie Ballantine is no stranger to ambitious projects, having released an album of his own renditions of the music of Bob Dylan, and now a double LP of the music of Thelonious Monk. He's bringing his Hoosier message to the people with an upcoming string of trio and quartet dates in the US and Canada, with a stop in Madison at the Bur Oak on Friday, September 10th.
Ethan Philion
Ethan Philion — Garver Feed Mill Patio — Friday, September 17, 2021 — 7PM
Interview date: 08/26/2021
Bassist Ethan Philion takes a respectful, well-researched approach to the music of Charles Mingus. This busy Chicago freelancer, with degrees from Oberlin and DePaul -- and a long list of other accolades -- arranges this music always with an ear toward the composer's intent. His band, Meditations: the Music of Charles Mingus, often appearing as a ten-piece ensemble, will be showcased on the Garver Patio as a quartet featuring Russ Johnson, Alexis Lombre, and Dana Hall.
Jeff Swanson
Jeff Swanson's Case-fitter — Garver Feed Mill Patio — Friday, September 3, 2021 — 7PM
Interview date: 08/19/2021
Guitarist/Composer Jeff Swanson joins me to talk about his group Case-fitter in advance of their first gig in umpteen months -- upcoming on the Garver Patio. This sextet of accomplished Chicago-based interpreters and improvisers, including saxophonist Greg Ward and drummer Greg Artry, lets loose on Jeff’s original compositions that are equal parts intricate and visceral.
Hanging Hearts' Chris Weller
Hanging Hearts — Garver Feed Mill Patio — Friday, August 27, 2021 — 7PM
Interview date: 08/03/2021
Along with drummer Quin Kirchner, Chicago's Hanging Hearts consists of Cole DeGenova and Chris Weller, two Oak Park high school chums who went on to formulate their musical identities at Boston's Berklee College of Music during the first decade of this century. Tone Madison's own Scott Gordon describes the band as "brash and frequently exuberant" and "moving between surging, rock-inspired melodies one moment and fragmented free jazz the next." I dialed up saxophonist Chris Weller to get the low down on the band, his other projects, and his role with Big Fish Booking -- one of today's premier creative music booking and management agencies.
Chad McCullough
Chad McCullough — Garver Feed Mill Patio — Friday, July 23, 2021 — 7PM
Interview date: 06/11/2021
Trumpeter / Composer Chad McCullough brings his quartet to the Garver Patio on July 23 for a COVID-postponed release show for his new record "Forward." Chicago Jazz Magazine highlights Chad for his lyricism as a player, his imaginative writing, and for leading a "synergistic quartet of some of Chicago's most idiosyncratic musicians."
Mars Williams
Mars Williams — Garver Feed Mill Patio — Friday, July 9, 2021 — 7PM
Interview date: 06/11/2021
A cornerstone of the Chicago improvised music scene, Mars Williams is one of those rare musicians who successfully approaches music as a continuum, rather than a series of discrete genres. His spectrum extends from well-known 80’s band The Waitresses to Chicago’s Liquid Soul to the Peter Brötzmann Tentet. Savvy listeners may recognize Mars as the saxophonist with the Psychedelic Furs beginning with their 1984 release "Mirror Moves."
ARP of the Covenant
ARP of the Covenant — Garver Feed Mill Patio — Friday, July 2, 2021 — 7pm
Interview date: 06/10/2021
This pun-loving band came together in 2003 on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor as fresh-faced graduate students in the department of music. Although they've never quite breached the threshold of wider recognition during their nearly twenty year run, ARP continues to perform and record their organically improvisational, uniquely hybridized, analog slash digital electro-acoustic music.
The Dirk Quinn Band
The Dirk Quinn Band — Garver Feed Mill Patio — Wednesday, June 9, 2021 — 7pm
Interview date: 05/24/2021
The Dirk Quinn Band is a hard-travelling jam band from the Philadelphia area. The group will be performing on the Garver Patio on Wednesday June 9th. The band is on the vanguard of groups heading out on tour as venues across the country begin to re-open. Our conversation ranges from the music to the business side of things, but we leave unanswered the SAT question you'll never see: The Jeff Beck Group is to the Mahavishnu Orchestra as the Dirk Quinn Band is to ... fill in the blank.
Max Bessesen
Max Bessesen Quintet — Garver Feed Mill Patio — Friday, May 21, 2021 — 7pm
Posted: 05/19/2021
Max Bessesen brings his Chicago/Milwaukee based quintet to the Garver Feed Mill Patio to make up for a date postponed from April of 2020. The band will be playing from Max's debut recording as a leader "Trouble," released during the pandemic. He'll also pull from a soon-to-be-recorded album, consisting of covers drawn from the jazz of the 70s and 80s.
Alex Mercado & Todd Clouser
Alex Mercado Trio + Todd Clouser’s Cinema: Music for Unmade Film— Garver Feed Mill Patio — Friday, May 14, 2021 — 7pm
Posted: 05/10/2021 Interviews: 05/07/2021
Alex Mercado, considered by many to be one of Mexico’s finest jazz pianists, brings his U.S. based trio to play music from his newly released album “Exilio.” Todd Clouser’s Cinema: Music for Unmade Film charts a subtle, ambient path through a melancholic Americana.