The Ratchet music series is always introducing us to new music, but tonight they’ll kick off a brand new bi-annual Composer Series with a month long residency by Cameron Pfiffner. more ›

A gas station at the corner of Rosemont and Western in 1962 Chicago. That's the setting for this brand new story from author Barry Gifford. more ›

Chicago’s avant-garde collective Umbrella Music kicked off its sixth annual music festival Wednesday, leaving no doubt this year’s crop of visiting artists and Chicago stalwarts deserve a spot in any jazz fan’s weekend plans. more ›

On the occasion of his new album Spacer, we interview the Chicago jazz musician who makes playing the vibes sexy as hell. more ›

Is it still a royal ball if someone brings a beer-helmet? Funk / jazz all-stars Soulive and Lettuce held court at the Vic Theatre Saturday night. more ›

In today's listings, the final clambake of the summer at Fulton's on the River happens today. more ›

The lineup for Jazz Fest has just been announced and the annual Labor Day weekend event is bringing in some heavy hitters. more ›

Most Monday night's Patricia Barber holds down the fort at Green Mill. But Barber is on tour and filling in for her tonight and next Monday is none other than Yoko Noge's Jazz Me Blues. We're biased about Yoko and the pairing of her long-running band of jazz raconteurs with Chicago's most romanticized jazz club are a match made in heaven. You might even see some swing dancers in attendance, since the dance floor will be open. more ›

Chicago lost one of its greatest champions of jazz music and a radio stalwart last year with the passing of former WBEZ host Dick Buckley. At times we wondered what would happen of Buckley's extensive record collection. Sun-Times chronicler of the offbeat Dave Hoekstra informs us that Buckley's record collection is being auctioned off by Leslie Hindman Auctioneers (1338 W. Lake St.) at 5 p.m. today. Fellow crate diggers can inspect the collection, which has been divided into 92 lots, from now until then. more ›

It takes a talented musician to carry on the legacy of a legend. Corey Wilkes is just that kind of talent. more ›

Without a doubt the most successful group to come from the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians was the Art Ensemble of Chicago. The quintet's classic lineup — Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors Maghostut and Famadou Don Moye — was a powerful musical force with a unique stage presence unseen in free jazz musicians. As recently as 2006, the AEC was still a concert draw, even after the deaths of Bowie in 1999 and Favors in 2004. more ›

20 years ago, renowned percussionists Michael Zerang and Hamid Drake held their first "solstice concert" in one of Links Hall's dance rehearsal rooms as a way for their friends to celebrate the holidays without having to conform to traditional (read: commercialized) ritual. It's now a tradition in itself; a Festivus for the rest of us, if you will. more ›

Ramsey Lewis is "Exhibit 'A'" in debunking the conventional wisdom that Chicago jazz players have to go elsewhere to succeed. more ›

Get past the Egyptology and science fiction influences and you'll find Sun Ra was firmly rooted in bop tradition. more ›

Jesús Dioniso Valdés, Jr., aka "Chuchito," comes from what some might consider Latin jazz royalty. His father, Chucho, is considered by some the greatest Latin jazz pianist of all time. His grandfather, Bebo Valdés, was the legendary Tropicana nightclub in Havana. It would have been unnatural for Chuchito to not follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. more ›

This Wednesday night Symphony Center will host the world premiere of the silent film Louis, a collaboration by Chicago native David Pritzker and Academy Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (Close Encounters of the Third Kind), with music performed live by Wynton Marsalis and his band. more ›

Saxophonist and Velvet Lounge owner Fred Anderson, one of the giants of Chicago's jazz and improvised music scenes, passed away from complications following a cardiac arrest he suffered June 14. Mr. Anderson was 81. more ›

Sad news: veteran musician Fred Anderson, 81, remains in critical condition at Saint Francis Hospital. After being admitted to the hospital for abdominal pains last Monday he then suffered cardiac arrest, and is still in ICU, apparently in a medically induced coma to allow his body to heal. more ›

Thursday nights in Chicago can range from an all night rager to a brief stop at your favorite spot for some patio drinks and conversation. If you desire something that is more of a happy medium, and are one of the few that still regard it as a school night, then our Chill Pick is for definitely for you. more ›

A sheriff, a musician, and a professor walk into a bar--wait, that's a different post. more ›

The Bulls, who seemed resurgent just a few weeks ago, are struggling to stay afloat in the Eastern Conference playoff picture as they fell to the Utah Jazz 132-108 last night, their fifth-straight loss. The game was competitive for the entire first half and into the second, but a 13-1 Jazz run in the third quarter gave them a double-digit lead and the Bulls were never able to get a second wind to catch Utah. Derrick Rose scored 25 points and dished 13 assists in the loss while Brad Miller scored 20. At one point nipping at the heels of fifth place in the conference, the Bulls now find themselves on the outside looking in. The Bulls will have a tough time ending the streak when they travel to Orland tomorrow (7 p.m., TNT). more ›

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra released its schedule yesterday of all classical, jazz, and world music concerts happening at Symphony Center during the 2010-2011 season, as well as the general plans for Riccardo Muti's first season as the CSO's tenth music director. more ›

This is part of Chicagoist's coverage of the Chicago International Movies and Music Festival, which runs March 4-7. more ›

Maybe you don't like the world's greatest sport or consuming delicious food and drink. Or maybe you just aren't a Saints fan, a Colts fan, or a fan of hypocritical corporate decisions. more ›

The Bad Plus returns to Chicago for the first time since last April's concert at the Old Town School of Folk Music, bringing their uniquely varied repertoire and top-notch musicianship to the University of Chicago Presents concert series this Friday. more ›

How about a brief musical interlude? more ›

With snow in the forecast as early as tonight, it's never too soon to get your bike in gear for winter riding. Or, if you stopped biking when the temperature dropped below 55, now's your chance to start riding again before it gets really cold. Rapid Transit Cycleshop is offering free winter riding and winter maintenance classes this season--and various other bike maintenance classes for a fee. Classes are located at 1900 W. North Ave. and spots may be reserved by calling the shop at 773-227-2288. more ›

The Bulls' struggles on the road continued last night as the team fell to Utah by a 105-86 final, their fourth straight loss as well as their fourth straight loss by over 15 points. Luol Deng led the Bulls with 26 points and 8 rebounds and Derrick Rose added 19. The Bulls only shot 42 percent while allowing the Jazz to shoot over 60 percent from the field. Said Joakim Noah afterwards, "We've got to do something. We're not competing like I know we're capable of competing. It's on nobody's shoulders. It's a team effort and we've just got to stick together as a team and get it together because we're not there yet." If there's a silver lining for the Bulls, it's that they can finally return home with only a Monday game a few hours up the road in Milwaukee left on the Circus Trip. more ›

• Another teen was charged today in a string of armed robberies at South Side Metra stations.
• Investigators are taking another go-around at tips and evidence from the Lane Bryant shootings hoping to get a break in the case.
• WBEZ has an excellent story on Hands of Peace, a program in Glenview that brings together Israeli and Palestinian teens with local teens.

Success has come in a torrent for Rudresh Mahanthappa since he released "Kinsmen" almost a year ago. The album was declared one of the best of 2008 by folks from the New York Times, NPR, the Washington Post, Rolling Stone, the Village Voice, the Boston Globe...well, you get the idea. more ›