2 weeks Ago By Mark Guarino
Daylight may end earlier in November and a winter chill may be in the air, but this series of shows throughout the month promise the light and heat you need to get through. 7 p.m.
Nov. 15 at the Promontory For exactly 50 years, Chicago drummer Kahil El’Zabar has helped lead Chicago’s avant garde jazz scene around the globe. Besides collaborations with stars like Stevie Wonder and Dizzy Gillespie, El’Zabar found his greatest partnership with the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, a group that has explored African polyrhythms, freeform jazz, soul and even elements of traditional swing.
This show, featuring baritone saxophonist Alex Harding and trumpeter Corey Wilkes, is a homecoming for the group and a final exclamation point on a yearlong 50th anniversary tour. 5311 South Lake Park Ave.; tickets from $30.
Sourthern rock band Uncle Lucius will perform at Robert’s Westside on Nov. 15. Courtesy of Dylan Johnson 8 p.
m. Nov. 15 at Robert’s Westside Popular Southern rock band Uncle Lucius hails from Austin, Texas; over the last two decades, the group has become a grassroots phenomenon based on powerhouse live shows.
Hard touring led the band to retire in 2018, but after the song “Keep the Wolves Away” became a runaway hit after scoring an episode of Yellowstone, the band reunited. Opening is Americana singer-songwriter Chicago Farmer. 7321 Madison St.
, Forest Park; tickets from $35. 8 p.m.
Nov. 15–16 at Metro This is the final Chicago stop of the ongoing world tour of electro-rock pioneer Front 242, which is calling it quits after more than 40 years. The Belgian group came up in the 1980s, melding minimal electronic beats, jagged synth lines, dark lyrics and raw energy.
Along with Nitzer Ebb, Skinny Puppy, DAF and others, the group helped forge a genre called EBM (electronic body music), which groups like Nine Inch Nails and Ministry expanded into the mainstream. These two Chicago shows are also a homecoming of sorts; five years into the band’s career, Chicago’s Wax Trax! label, by then the home of industrial rock pioneers, reissued the group’s records for U.S.
audiences. 3730 N. Clark St.
; tickets from $42. Saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell will perform a show with Junius Paul and Vincent Davis on Nov. 16 at the Promontory.
Business Wire/AP 7 p.m. Nov.
16 at the Promontory Saxophonist and composer Roscoe Mitchell is a founding member of the influential Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Distinguished for expanding the boundaries of improvisation, he is among the last of the unlimited experimenters, not just with his instrument but with the very concept of sound itself. His recordings over the years have blurred bebop, classical music and the avant-garde.
5311 S. Lake Park Ave. West; tickets from $32.
Elizabeth Moen will headline a concert at the Empty Bottle on Nov. 16. Courtesy of Cassie Scott 8:30 p.
m. Nov. 16 at the Empty Bottle Chicago singer-songwriter Elizabeth Moen headlines this show fresh from her tour opening for Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy.
Her last full-length album, Wherever You Aren’t, combines alternative country and soul. She betters even those songs with new singles that set her voice in a garden bed of lush orchestration (“Empty Bottle”), spiky rock guitars (“Purple Flowers”) and country twang (“What’s the Rush?”) 1035 N. Western Ave.
; tickets from $15. 7:15 p.m.
and 9:30 p.m. Nov.
22-23 at Andy’s Jazz Club Chicago’s blues and jazz scenes are rich and renowned. This show blends both. It celebrates Set Me Free (Delmark), a new release by longtime blues guitarist Lurrie Bell and jazz saxophonist Frank Catalano.
Both Chicago natives have recording and performance credits that could stretch several miles apiece; Bell, the son of legendary blues harmonica player Carey Bell, grew up performing with Willie Dixon and Koko Taylor. Catalano’s jazz career has included stints performing with Tony Bennett, Miles Davis and Von Freeman, plus sharp lefts into hip-hop and collaborations with people like drummer Jimmy Chamberlin of the Smashing Pumpkins and jazz guitarist Fareed Haque. The duo’s album includes standards “At Last” and “Georgia on My Mind,” as well as “The Sky Is Crying,” “Every Day I Have the Blues” and Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Help Me.
” 11 E. Hubbard St.; tickets from $20.
8 p.m. Nov.
23 at Space Bonnie Koloc remains an important figure in Chicago’s second folk boom of the 1970s. Along with John Prine and Steve Goodman, she helped elevate the singer-songwriter scene in Old Town and Lincoln Park with a string of albums that blended jazz, blues, country and folk. After stints in Nashville and New York, where she performed on Broadway, Koloc now lives in Iowa.
This show is an opportunity to witness live one of the best female singers Chicago has ever produced. 1245 N. Chicago Ave.
in Evanston; tickets from $25. A post shared by elreytheatre (@elreytheatre) 8 p.m.
Nov. 23 at Thalia Hall North Carolina rapper-poet Mavi came to prominence in 2019 with Let the Sun Talk, his debut album, which was steeped in existential angst delivered in a stream-of-conscious style. Shadowbox, his third record, is being talked of as one of the best albums of the year.
With its spongy beats, synth bass and chilled-out vibe, the album might sound perfect on the beach — until you notice the lyrics, which are lined with uncertainty, dread and pondering all the big issues. Hip-hop collective Grouptherapy opens. 1807 S.
Allport St.; tickets from $28. 8 p.
m. Nov. 28–Dec.
1 at the Jazz Showcase New York alto saxophonist Justin Robinson was schooled in classic jazz, having played with luminaries ranging from Little Jimmy Scott to Abbey Lincoln and Dizzy Gillespie. The most influential stint may have been his years in trumpeter Roy Hargrove’s quintet and big band. Hargrove died in 2018 at age 29, and this residency is a tribute, featuring his compositions played by Chicago trumpeter Marques Carroll, pianist James Austin, bassist Jeremiah Hunt and drummer Kyle Swan.
806 S Plymouth Ct.; tickets from $25. Downers Grove native Muriel Anderson will play a Thanksgiving week concert at First Congregational UCC.
Courtesy of Bryan Allen 8 p.m. Nov.
30 at First Congregational UCC This 33-year tradition continues as Downers Grove native Muriel Anderson, considered one of the great folk guitarists of her generation, returns to play a Thanksgiving week concert. Anderson was a child prodigy who earned early accolades from mentors Jethro Burns and Chet Atkins; she then became the first woman to win the National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship. Her instrument is the harp-guitar, which, as the name sounds, combines both stringed instruments into a single setting.
Watching her effortlessly flow between both is guaranteed to mesmerize. Opening this show are Steve Dawson and Diane Christiansen of Dolly Varden, the prolific local Americana band. 1047 Curtiss St.
in Downers Grove; tickets from $28. Mark Guarino is a journalist based in Chicago and the author of Country & Midwestern: Chicago in the History of Country Music and the Folk Revival..
