CHICAGO READER: Geof Bradfield Takes Inspiration from Chicago Comedy Culture and French Composer Olivier Messiaen on his Latest Project

June 21, 2018
CHICAGO READER: Geof Bradfield Takes Inspiration from Chicago Comedy Culture and French Composer Olivier Messiaen on his Latest Project

Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader In his typical fashion, reedist, composer, and bandleader Geof Bradfield deployed a veritable notebook of conceptual conceits when writing and formulating his new album Yes, and . . . Music for Nine Improvisers (Delmark). The title refers to a comedic device famously devised by the iconic Chicago improv troupe the Compass Players to propel bits forward and … Read More

CHICAGO READER: Brandee Younger Picks Up the Torch of Jazz Harp Pioneers for the Hip-Hop Generation

May 31, 2018
CHICAGO READER: Brandee Younger Picks Up the Torch of Jazz Harp Pioneers for the Hip-Hop Generation

Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader The harp has always been an oddity in jazz music. Its two most notable practitioners, Alice Coltrane and Dorothy Ashby, were most active decades ago; both musicians had roots in postbop forms and found fascinating ways to translate the cascading sounds associated with the classical instrument into rhythmically elastic settings—though each … Read More

Chicago Reader Reviews Rob Clearfield’s “Wherever You’re Starting From”

February 24, 2018
Chicago Reader Reviews Rob Clearfield’s “Wherever You’re Starting From”

Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader Chicago keyboardist Rob Clearfield forges a jazz-classical hybrid of weightless sophistication Keyboardist Rob Clearfield’s ubiquity on Chicago’s jazz scene says plenty about his talents and adaptability. He’s a musician who can lend sophisticated harmonic support to any setting—I’ve especially admired his simpatico contributions to bassist Matt Ulery’s Loom. While his ardor for … Read More

Chicago Reader Reviews Meridian Trio’s debut Album “Triangulum”

June 2, 2017
Chicago Reader Reviews Meridian Trio’s debut Album “Triangulum”

by Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader Alto saxophonist Nick Mazzarella is one the city’s most focused improvisers, a fervent student of jazz history and a staunch adherent of avant-garde tradition. He’s not a conceptualist. He likes form, function, and resolution, so at times he appears conventional within the context of Chicago’s shape-shifting jazz and improv scene. … Read More

Matt Ulery in the Chicago Reader

September 30, 2016
Matt Ulery in the Chicago Reader

by Peter Margasak, The Chicago Reader  Few musicians in Chicago have worked as diligently and rigorously to combine postbop with the voicings and compositional richness of classical music as bassist Matt Ulery, who improves with every new recording whether leading his long-running quintet Loom—his most jazz-oriented vehicle—or shifting through a variety of projects that focus … Read More