“Praiseworthy: An Intelligent and Prompt Negro - A Railroad Disaster Averted." A story from artist Samuel Lewis II about his great-great grandfather, Phil McBride.

Told using a crankie-style illustration scroll, and accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Hunter Diamond, this piece has been performed in Chicago at the Smart Museum, for the Nasty Brutish and Short series, and at the 2024 National Puppet Slam in Atlanta.

Read about Sam Lewis and his creative work in the Chicago Reader.

Free admission, presented with support from the Walder Foundation

Night two of Matt Ulery’s month-long residency at the Hungry Brain. With Pollinator, Ulery’s massive compositional collection extends to New Orleans to present the pomp and panache of early 20th century mannerisms with a contemporary Chicago line up

Hunter Diamond - clarinet

Dustin Laurenzi - tenor saxophone

Steve Duncan - trombone

Dave Miller - guitar

Matt Ulery - sousaphone

Quin Kirchner - drums

Free admission, presented with support from the Walder Foundation.

Omnipresent bassist/composer Matt Ulery, freshly endowed with the new Walder Platform Artist award, returns with new music for his nonet.

Hunter Diamond, Dustin Laurenzi, Artie Black - winds

Russ Johnson, James Davis, Chris Shuttleworth - brass

Julius Tucker, Matt Ulery, Jon Deitemeyer - rhythm

Flesh of Fruit is the debut collaboration from Chicago sound artists Hunter Diamond and Allen Moore. They use free improvisation and experimental electronics to engage reflective nostalgia, creating a sound collage equally at home in a free jazz club, art gallery, or underground noise show.

Allen Moore is a Black interdisciplinary visual artist, experimental turntablist, sound artist, educator and youth mentor from Robbins, Illinois, near Chicago’s South Side. His work converses with the signifiers of African-American culture. At the heart of his practice is graphite, which he often uses in his drawings, paintings, and sculptures. Working with this material in his visual work led him to hand casting records with graphite, creating warped mirrors of old soul records. These graphite records serve as the foundation for sound art pieces and live performances with Moore using up to four turntables to create collages of hypnotic textures and rhythms that resonate like hymns of fractured nostalgia

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Jay Taylor is a Chicago-based sound improvisor and recording artist, primarly concentrating on curated sound meditations.

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Commissioned by Chicago chamber string duo The Missing Piece.

“Unsettling” is a new work for saxophone, violin, cello, and electronics, that offers sound and comment on Israel from the perspective of an American Jew. Taking inspiration from contemporary Israeli writers who seek to hold Israel to account for its immense transgressions without devaluing its enormous accomplishments, this piece publicizes my current relationship to the state of Israel, the American Jews and non-Jews of my community, and to the Jewish members of my family. My primary approach, which has continuously proved most helpful in maintaining a sustainable position, is holding contradiction. 

Hunter Diamond - saxophone, sampler

Dan Galat - violin

Kelly Quesada - cello

This piece will premier as part of the ongoing Frequency Series (curated by Peter Margasak) alongside new works by Mai Sugimoto and Fred Jackson, Jr.

Fresh back from some winter dates in the EU, my duo with Mike Reed will return to Constellation for the 2x4 series, hosted by Julian Kirshner.

Ana Everling is an artist who has spent her life focusing on the practice and performance of vocal music. Her passion lies within the heart of Romanian Folklore from Moldova. With her practice, she has developed a unique style that reflects a deep love for tradition and yet propels these folkloric sounds into a new dimension.

The new Ana Everling Quartet project sounds like folklore but it is all original compositions combined with modern arrangements and improvised sound, delivering complex performances that address universal themes.

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A new trio formed by guitarist/producer James Elkington finds us on light footing between the heavy presence of Chicago’s improvised and indie scenes.

James Elkington - guitar, electronics, compositions

Hunter Diamond - saxophone, clarinet, electronics

Mike Reed - drums, electronics

Jay Taylor is a Chicago-based sound improvisor and recording artist, primarily concentrating on curated sound meditations.

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We’ll present our newest material as part of the ongoing Chicago Jazz Composer’s Collective series. This program has been curated by Chicago vibraphonist/composer Kathy Kelly since the early 2000’s and is a cornerstone of new music in the community. This will be our last performance before we head into the studio to track our next quartet recording.

Irene Hsiao creates performances in conversation with visual art in museums, galleries, and public spaces, a practice that includes site-specific interaction with visual artworks and experimental engagement with artists, institutions, and the public. She is the resident artist 2024 at the Heritage Museum.

We search for dragons in art, in movement, in music, and in ourselves. Reflect upon the Year of the Dragon in this exploratory performance by Irene Hsiao in collaboration with Paige Brown, Hunter Diamond, Menghua Guan, Penny Li, Amanda Maraist, Scott Rubin, Darling “Shear” Squire, and Peter Wong at the Heritage Museum of Asian Art.

If the Sky Could Dream combines drawing, painting, dance, found materials and found spaces at the museum to reveal and celebrate the dragons among us—structural, ancestral, architectural, internal, and environmental. Because the dragon is a water deity in Chinese culture, this work also features projections of the waters of Chicago: Lake Michigan, the Chicago River, and the lakes, ponds, and lagoons of Chicago Parks.

For more information about the full-bio of performers, please visit: https://irenechsiao.wordpress.com/2024/12/28/if-the-sky-could-dream-dragonatomy/

If The Sky Could Dream: Dragonatomy is generously funded by the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation as part of the Dragon Within: Loong and Global Symbols event series. If the Sky Could Dream is supported, in part, by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant. Irene Hsiao is the 2024 Resident Artist at Heritage Museum of Asian Art.

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“Praiseworthy: An Intelligent and Prompt Negro - A Railroad Disaster Averted." A story from artist Samuel Lewis II about his great-great grandfather, Phil McBride.

Told using a crankie-style illustration scroll, and accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Hunter Diamond, this piece has been performed in Chicago at the Smart Museum, for the Nasty Brutish and Short series, and at the 2024 National Puppet Slam in Atlanta.

Read about Sam Lewis and his creative work in the Chicago Reader.

Tomorrow Never Knows Festival presents:

Radio Outernational combines the rhythm section from the Eternals with a fresh saxophone and flute frontline — old acquaintances joining forces to conjure something new. The music is multi-dimensional, guided by a collective ensemble approach, exploring hypnotic psychedelic grooves, snaking ethio-funk and venturing beyond. Transcending genre and teeming with infectious energy, the quintet is carefully designed yet hard to define.

Hunter Diamond – saxophone/flute
Wayne Montana – bass
Kenthaney Redmond – flute
Aaron Shapiro – guitar
Areif Sless-Kitain – drums

Opening set from Chicago/Milwaukee rippers Yr Knives

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A creative vocalist from Republic of Moldova, Ana Everling performs music described as both innovative and respectful of traditional Eastern European styles.

Ana has been praised for her ability to bring new life and energy to these timeless musical traditions while creating something entirely new and unique. Her quartet sounds like folklore, yet the musicians are performing all original compositions, with modern arrangements and improvised sound, delivering complex performances that address universal themes.

Free tickets will be given out starting at 2:30 pm to persons who are present.

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The most expansive iteration to date

Rooted in the collaborative spirit of the early 2010s indie hip-hop scene, Will Miller cut loose from his training at Oberlin jazz conservatory, taking a compositional assignment to write a tune about a reservoir as his cue to explore a beats and RnB-inspired sound that could function as a literal reservoir of music to draw from. Running his trumpet through MIDI keyboards, experimenting with samplers, drum machines and synths, he began to build a sound that could seamlessly collaborate with MCs, vocalists and instrumentalists.

“With Resavoir, it’s been more about unlearning those stigmas and traumas of going through the very rigid system of learning music and coming back to making something that is going to make me feel good and reflects how I'm feeling in the moment,” Miller explains.

A longtime member of indie band Whitney, and having subsequently worked with the likes of Mac Miller, ASAP Rocky, Chance The Rapper, Lil Wayne and SZA - for whom he produced “Blind” from her 2022 album SOS which spent 10 weeks at #1 on the Billboard 100 chart - the Resavoir project allowed Miller to take these experiences into his own work - creating a sound that is deft yet deep, compositionally complex, yet finely tuned to the timbres of emotion that color life’s quieter moments.

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Presented by the Chicago Jazz Composer’s Collective series:

Ana Everling is an artist who has spent her life focusing on the practice and performance of vocal music. Her passion lies within the heart of Romanian Folklore from Moldova. With her practice, she has developed a unique style that reflects a deep love for tradition and yet propels these folkloric sounds into a new dimension. Are we listening to jazz? Are we walking through a misty Romanian forest? 

Her storytelling and vision is one of a woman’s journey of studying music in art schools in Moldova to busking on the streets of Chicago and now sells out venues throughout the United States. One of her missions as a performer is to promote a free form genre called “Doina”. This effort led her to be honored by the president of Moldova as she was given the title Artist Emerit for prodigious activity in culture, high professional mastery and substantial contribution to preserving and developing the spiritual values of Moldovan culture and promoting Moldova's image abroad.  

The new Ana Everling Quartet project sounds like folklore but it is all original compositions combined with modern arrangements and improvised sound, delivering complex performances that address universal themes.

A set of new composition by composer/performer/artist Deidre Huckabay featuring:

Ben Melsky - Harp

Caitlin Edwards - violin

Lia Kohl - cello

Hunter Diamond - winds

Sam Scranton - drums

Deidre Huckabay - voice, flute

Artie and I will present an intimate duo concert in a beautiful recording studio/concert space

The quartet will perform a set of music from our newest release Furniture of the Mind Rearranging on We Jazz Records. Fortunately for us, We Jazz also hosts a festival in Helsinki every year.

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All-vinyl sets from myself and Quin Kirchner before/between/after sets from The Bridge 2.11

The Bridge 2.11:

Greg Ward — alto saxophone
Nicolas Peoc’h — alto saxophone
Hélène Labarrière — double bass
Isaiah Spencer — drums

The Bridge is a transatlantic cultural exchange program that brings together improvising musicians from France and Chicago for tours and recordings.

I’ll be joining them for a special night of mixed groupings at The Whistler in Logan Square.

The core band:

Greg Ward — alto saxophone
Nicolas Peoc’h — alto saxophone
Hélène Labarrière — double bass
Isaiah Spencer — drums

Black Diamond thrives on the chemistry and compositions of saxophonists Artie Black and Hunter Diamond. Their new album Furniture Of the Mind Rearranging (WeJazz Records) is an assemblage of new compositions and improvisations that develop the band's established sound and exemplify the way in which this band folds into the Chicago creative music community. The quartet traverses their familiar aesthetic ranges between driving off-kilter groove, plaintive minimalism, and intimate chamber music, with the ever-present spirit of small-group jazz and a hovering influence of Chicago’s improvised music culture. And while this collection represents three previous albums and more than a decade of close kinship and artistic evolution between co-leaders Black and Diamond, neither are too precious about any one element on the album. This is very simply the latest work in what continues to be an expanding body work founded on a guiding principle: cultivation without expectation.

Artie Black - saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet

Hunter Diamond - saxophone, flute

Matt Ulery - bass

Neil Hemphill - drums

More information and tickets here

Fresh of tracking our debut record, RO returns to the Clipper for a night of groove music.

Kenthaney Redmond - flute

Hunter Diamond - flute, saxophone

Aaron Shapiro - guitar

Wayne Montana - bass

Areif Sless-Kitain - drums

The New Now series, curated by Sully Davis and Eli Schmitt.

A set of new and unrecorded material, and maybe a few from our latest recording Furniture of the Mind Rearranging

Chicago based bassist/composer and bandleader Matt Ulery has developed an instantly recognizable sound. Known for his sweeping lyricism, unconventional phrase structures, expressionistic emotionalism, Ulery’s music, from small, diverse chamber ensembles to full orchestras, is informed by the entire spectrum of jazz, classical, rock, pop, and folk– specifically American, South American, Balkan, and other European folk styles. He has been performing for 25 years on upright, electric, and brass basses.
For over two decades, Ulery has been the leader of his own groups and frequent collaborator. Ulery has produced and released 15 critically acclaimed albums of all original music under his name including with his latest, 11-piece mixed chamber jazz ensemble, Mannerist, from May 2023.  In 2014, Matt Ulery’s Loom performed on the NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series and was featured in Vanity Fair Magazine in a “rising jazz stars” feature article. 

Matt Ulery - bass, compositions

Russ Johnson - trumpet

James Davis - trumpet

Chris Shuttleworth - trombone

Hunter Diamond - saxophone, flute, clarinet

Artie Black - saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet

Dustin Laurenzi - saxophone

Julius Tucker - piano

Jon Deitemeyer - drums

Chicago based bassist/composer and bandleader Matt Ulery has developed an instantly recognizable sound. Known for his sweeping lyricism, unconventional phrase structures, expressionistic emotionalism, Ulery’s music, from small, diverse chamber ensembles to full orchestras, is informed by the entire spectrum of jazz, classical, rock, pop, and folk– specifically American, South American, Balkan, and other European folk styles. He has been performing for 25 years on upright, electric, and brass basses.
For over two decades, Ulery has been the leader of his own groups and frequent collaborator. Ulery has produced and released 15 critically acclaimed albums of all original music under his name including with his latest, 11-piece mixed chamber jazz ensemble, Mannerist, from May 2023.  In 2014, Matt Ulery’s Loom performed on the NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series and was featured in Vanity Fair Magazine in a “rising jazz stars” feature article. 

Matt Ulery - bass, compositions

Russ Johnson - trumpet

James Davis - trumpet

Chris Shuttleworth - trombone

Hunter Diamond - saxophone, flute, clarinet

Artie Black - saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet

Dustin Laurenzi - saxophone

Julius Tucker - piano

Jon Deitemeyer - drums

Chicago based bassist/composer and bandleader Matt Ulery has developed an instantly recognizable sound. Known for his sweeping lyricism, unconventional phrase structures, expressionistic emotionalism, Ulery’s music, from small, diverse chamber ensembles to full orchestras, is informed by the entire spectrum of jazz, classical, rock, pop, and folk– specifically American, South American, Balkan, and other European folk styles. He has been performing for 25 years on upright, electric, and brass basses.
For over two decades, Ulery has been the leader of his own groups and frequent collaborator. Ulery has produced and released 15 critically acclaimed albums of all original music under his name including with his latest, 11-piece mixed chamber jazz ensemble, Mannerist, from May 2023.  In 2014, Matt Ulery’s Loom performed on the NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series and was featured in Vanity Fair Magazine in a “rising jazz stars” feature article. 

Matt Ulery - bass, compositions

Russ Johnson - trumpet

James Davis - trumpet

Chris Shuttleworth - trombone

Hunter Diamond - saxophone, flute, clarinet

Artie Black - saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet

Dustin Laurenzi - saxophone

Julius Tucker - piano

Jon Deitemeyer - drums