The Jazzcat

Slide Show
Most of the pictures in this article are links!!
Back again in the windy city once again only this time just a tad bet cooler than September weather. Cooler as in weather because we all know that when it comes to being cool in regards to the music, Chicago is chilly 24-7-365!  The last time I was here ii was for the Chicago Jazz Festival and this time, I get a chance to check out a few of the many little clubs that exist all over the city and happening every night!

I took a long walk one evening in the south loop in search of that almighty deep-dish pizza that Chicago is so very known for. I just figured I would keep walking north until I ran into a Giordanos and instead I stopped two blocks short and stumbled upon a bright yellow awning that had the words “Live Jazz on it. It was Andy’s jazz club. Now just as a coincidence, Von Freeman, the 85 year old legendary Chicago tenor sax king, who was the artist I was interviewing for the week on my weekly jazz radio interview segment “Live with the Jazzcat”, was there onstage performing that night! $10 for a great Chicago jazz experience puts pizza on the back burner, and moves the music up to the top slot in my itinerary for the evening. I checked out the last tune for the set and then got to spend some good time in the company of the beloved Von and his many adoring fans who make sure that they are at as many performances as that can possibly attend.

Click Picture above to listen to interview with Von Freeman

Lauren Deutsch, the executive director of the Jazz Institute of Chicago was wonderful enough to put me in touch with Earl Lavon Freeman and at 85, Von has remained a native of Chicago for all of these years and he has a monthly gig here at Andy’s as well as a few others around town that he regularly holds court. Von has played with so many cats over the years and names like Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Roy Eldridge, Andrew Hill and Sun Ra ought to give you some indication of how deep the rabbit whole goes!

On the break we sat together and he, his good friend singer and Betty Jean Reynolds, and two of his doctors, who were just there to enjoy the music, proceeded with the wine, cognac, and coke for me. There were lots of smiles, pictures being taken, and an all around good stories being told with a love and kindness that showed up in his music as well.I wanted to make it over to the Green Mill that evening to see this avant guard trumpet player who was in town but, exhaustion took its toll; the time change and the jet lag had its hold on me.

I did manage to get out the next night and check out a jam session at the Velvet Lounge located on Cermak Road near Michigan Ave just at the South Sides door. This place is apparently run by Fred Anderson, one of the founders of the AACM who I unfortunately did not get a chance to meet. One of the women at Andy’s told me that it was all avant guard music here tonight but I found that not to be the case. Although I was looking for that, I found these young jovial cats burning down the standards.

The very talented, youthful and extremely gracious drummer, almost like a modern day Cannonball, Isaiah Spencer was running the jam session and the selection of tunes for the first set of this jam session were just up my alley! “Lady Bird” was the first tune called and it was nice to see the cats that were laughing and joking around before the music began transform into these young monsters of the music as they put all kinds of sauce on the Tadd Dameron composition.  Trane’s “Moments Notice”, Monk’s “Round Midnight” and Duke Pearson’s “Jeannine” were just a few of the classics that these young men fiercely attacked with intensity! These guys hit the nail so hard that they drove it right through the wood and they proceeded to set Chicago ablaze once again. I have seen a lot of music and many times the musicians are caressing the hair and bringing roses on the date before making love to the music but tonight, these guys get straight down to business!

At the suggestion of the same individual who directed me to the Velvet Lounge, I went to visit the Chopin Theater. There was some Polish jazz playing there that evening so I thought it would be interesting. When I used to work on 88.1fm KLON, there was one particular listener who used to tune in from Poznan Poland and he would email me every night telling me how many people in Poland were listening. Since Chicago has a Polish community that is larger than Warsaw Poland itself, I thought I would give it a shot.

Entering the theater was like crossing the border into a foreign country. Ninety-eight percent of the patrons and employees were of Polish origin and was so intrigued, especially since I have not yet visited Europe. I have a musician friend Darek Oleszkiewicz back in Los Angeles who is from Poland and I have for years experienced his fine bass playing so there is no reason why tonight I should not have the same expectation. The theater had an upstairs playing jazz and a downstairs playing blues. This was a marvelous mix of entertainment and apparently the patrons tonight have been waiting for this annual event for a long time. There is an area on the North/West side of Chicago that is predominantly Polish but, if you ask me, they are all here tonight and having a ball!

I met a smiling face that spoke English and decided to take me under her wing and show me around. My solo jazz exploration was now taking flight in different directions all over town. I thought that there was an organ trio at the famous Chicago Green Mill club. However, Thursday night is swing night and I was in the mood to swing, just not in that direction. We went to another spot called the “Green Dolphin” which usually has jazz but, tonight had a DJ from California spinning, scratching and rocking the house with hip-hop, soul and R&B.

We went downtown to a club on Wabash called “M” which was not playing live jazz on the weekend and was at capacity with people hanging’ and having a good time. Not far from there is a restaurant called “Cuatro” which had some music and looked like a very nice place. You can look for another excellent restaurant and place for music on Wabash called “Exposure”. I had dinner there a few nights ago and met the owner named Julius, whose plan is to have different art in his restaurant, exposing different Chicago artists. He is in the process of building a club for music in the downstairs of his establishment and having jazz and a few other genres of music there. The food is excellent so make sure to mark this on you list for great new places to wine, dine and hear music in Chicago.

I did stop by a place called Close Up 2 to see some jazz. It had the words smooth jazz on the window which is like a wooden stake in the heart to a vampire but, I decided to take my chances. The music was a great blend of soul with jazz as the foundation. There was this trumpet player named Corey Wilkes that was killing along with a vocalist whose vibe was cool, he just needed a better microphone so we could hear all of the subtleties in his voice with clarity.

Buddy Guy’s Blues Club looked too crowded so we ended up on the North Side at a place called “The Kinston Mines”. This place was sweet and had two sides where you could hear a couple of great blues bands get down with some baby come back to me blues that will have you dancing until 4 O’clock in the morning!

I spent my days trying to get a grip on the city. I used every form of transportation including walking, cycling, the train, the bus and by car. Chicago has an establishment called “Argo Tea”, a wonderfully delightful teahouse with the almighty traveler necessity; “FREE INTERNET ACCESS”.  Take the online survey and get a free tea any size on the house for your next visit! They have these Argo Tea houses in various neighborhoods so you can get some work done and then explore that part of the city!

My main mission was to see Jason Moran’s tribute to Monk at the Symphony Center. This was quite and interesting performance and you can read all it by clicking on the picture of Jason above.

Click on pic to see Ice Skating and LD with Fireworks

On my last night in the city of wind there was ice skating and a parade in honor of the lighting ceremony. The city of Chicago had for months been preparing for the Christmas holiday and on this particular evening, there were floats, fireworks, kids and a sea of people all jammed on Michigan Street near Randolph. Quite an exciting way to end a week long exploration in search of all there is to see, hear, eat and find in one of the Mid West’s most lovely cities, Chicago Illinois!

LeRoy Downs