Chicago Jazz Festival
The final two days of this yearly showcase feature some strong hitters. Ramsey Lewis, the legendary pianist, will perform his career finale on Saturday. The next day, trumpeter Jaimie Branch performs in her Fly or Die outfit, and P-Funk saxophonist Maceo Parker closes out the festival.
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Marlene Skog and Dancers
Skog’s modern ballet Consider It Not So Deeply examines the psyches of Shakespeare’s female characters through a combination of dance and spoken word, with original music by Matan Rubinstein and Chicagoland resident Timothy Russell mixed throughout Vivaldi.
Conference of Birds
Choreographer Nejla Yatkin returns to Chicago with a site-specific interactive performance on the lakefront after visiting 20 cities around the world for her Dancing Around the World series. Audience members participate in a directed movement inspired by flocking birds; the procession will be featured in director Enki Andrews’ short documentary.
Collaborative Work Festival
The Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago spiced up its annual celebration with the Midwest premiere of a song cycle by New York-based. Missy Mazzoli has been named the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s newest composer in residence. Songs from the Operas is a collection of highlights from her operas Breaking the Waves and Proving Up. The common maestros are Mahler, Brahms, Schoenberg, Leoš Janáček, and Vaughan Williams.
Sweet Charity
Bob Fosse notably choreographed this 1966 musical and associated film about a “taxi dancer” who seeks love in all the wrong places. Cy Coleman (music), Dorothy Fields (lyrics), and Neil Simon (book) collaborated on the show’s iconic highlights, including the dead-eyed come-ons of “Big Spender,” the lonely undulations of “Rich Man’s Frug”.
Let’s Eat, Grandma
It’s no surprise that this British experimental pop quartet (which includes childhood pals Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth) is signed to Transgressive Records. Its second studio album, I’m All Ears, is a mix of synth-heavy compositions that work equally well at home as in a club. Let’s Eat Grandma, which incorporates parts of R&B and house but never falls squarely into either category, demonstrates that there are still aural surprises among genres famed for their clear, mass appeal.
Mt. Joy
This folk ensemble has amassed a national following as a result of its extensive and consistent traveling schedule. Mt. Joy’s self-titled debut album, released this spring, builds on the success of “Astrovan” (a single with over seven million Spotify listens and growing) to demonstrate that its easygoing sound is destined for more than prime placement in a streaming service’s playlist.
Martine Syms
This 30-year-old Los Angeles-based, Chicago-trained video artist is a rising star; last year, the New Yorker ran an online story about her titled “How to Be a Successful Black Woman.” She returns to Chicago with Incense, Sweaters & Ice, a film partially shot on location that investigates Syms’ claim that fashion, race, and the internet merge into a type of everyday performance.
Yasuhiro Ishimoto: Someday Chicago
Ishimoto, who died in 2012, was one of Japan’s most famous photographers, but he is less well-known in Chicago. This is odd given that he has worked here for several decades. His socially conscious, documentary-style photographs of the city’s different cultures are brimming with emotion and grace.
