Innovative, thoughtful programming and unorthodox venues were hallmarks of Anaphora's inaugural season, and it looks like they'll be picking up where they left off with tomorrow night's opener of their Contemporary Series at the Jazz Showcase. The concert will highlight a recent contemporary music trend of incorporating jazz in more sophisticated ways. Many of the early attempts to combine the two genres treated jazz as a novelty - an orchestra playing swing eighth notes, say - but now the fusion is becoming more organic and less overt, due in large part to a shrinking music world that allows composers to be exposed to and influenced by a wider variety of sources. Augusta Reed Thomas, the former Chicago Symphony Orchestra Composer-in-Residence whose “D(i)agon(als)” for solo clarinet will be performed Tuesday, described this new approach:

It is clear, in all my works, that I have been listening to jazz for 30 years. I am not a composer who does empty-headed "cross-over" jazz pieces where the jazz bits make all the jazzer's blush with embarrassment.... rather, there is a deeply integrated and digested set of references and perfumes which can be sensed.

Looking out on our internet browser, we used to feel so uninspired. But Library of Inspiration became the key to our peace of mind. The “labor of love” child from a bevy of Chicago-based writers, Library of Inspiration houses short online essays on literature, music, and film. Its 7th edition includes essays on Richard Russo’s Empire Falls and Paul Bowles’ The Sheltering Sky, reflections on Animal Collective and Miles Davis, and observations on “Synecdoche, New York” and “Jaws”. The library doesn’t offer heavy diatribes, reviews, or term papers. Rather, each summary offers a brief literary confection meant to pay tribute and inspire future compositions. more ›

Oh, Trib. We get what you were going for in Steve Johnson's article about the Obama girls' new Nintendo Wii. Sasha and Malia got the entertainment console for Christmas, which had Steve guessing what Obama's Mii - the self-created avatar each Wii user makes of themselves - looks like. It looks nothing like Obama. more ›

The Boston Phoenix is tackling an ambitious music project: naming each state's best bands with its 50 Bands, 50 States feature. The criteria: for Best Band, it must have been formed in the state; for solo artist, he/she must have been born in the state; and for best new band, they must count as "undiscovered" by the Phoenix. For Illinois, their choices were: more ›

Jazz legend Herbie Hancock has been stretching the boundaries of modern music composition for the past 50+ years, but he’s not content to rest on his past accomplishments. He’s currently touring to support River: The Joni Letters, a collection of vocal and instrumental arrangements either composed or influential on the venerable Joni Mitchell. Guest vocalists on the album include most of the right-now voices in modern jazz-pop, like Corinne Bailey Rae, Leonard Cohen, Norah Jones, Luciana Souza, Tina Turner, and Mitchell herself. It’s an interesting project to tackle for the nearly 70-year-old Chicago native, who made his mark with jazzbos and casual consumers of free form music alike as a member of Miles Davis’ “second great quintet” in the 1960’s, but Hancock has never shied away from pushing the envelop of composed music. more ›

The University of Chicago’s Uncommon Application may be about to get a little more common, though it would likely keep its trademark quirky essay questions. In an effort to “increase and diversify” its pool of applicants, U of C may begin using the Common Application that allows a potential undergrad to apply to many schools at once, but fill out only one application. U of C President Robert Zimmer supports the change in an effort... more ›