Jazz & Blues Lounge

Well, the month of July is now in the history books for the year of 2008. It’s hotter than all hell here in the Windy City, but there’s nothing cooler than hanging out in a jazz or blues club and checking out a show. Of course, when looking at the calendar for both genres of music at WDCB, there isn’t much in the way of blues shows listed there.
Of course, the city is holding its breath for the Lollapalooza show this weekend. Why they always manage to end up doing that on the hottest damn weekend of …read more

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Continuing our look at the upcoming Chicago Jazz Festival, I wanted to continue to show you the various stages. We have already covered the Pritzker Pavillion concert which will kick things off on August 28. We have also covered what is, essentially, the main stage which is the Petrillo Music Shell. We also ran down the lineup at the “Jazz on Jackson Stage” and you can find all of those if you just page down. There is one more stage to cover and that is the “Jazz & Heritage Stage.”
Jazz and Heritage Stage
Friday, August 29, 2008 …read more

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I know this is a day late. That’s what happens when your critical lifeline, AllAboutJazz.com, goes down and won’t come up during the time I slot to write this particular blog. That’s what happened to me on Tuesday and I had to go with another blog about the Chicago Jazz Festival. I hate it when my personal schedule gets disrupted.
It’s a busy week for new releases and reissues. So, without further ado, here is the list from the fine folks at AllAboutJazz.com:
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
NEW RELEASES
32 Festival De Jazz De Vitoria-Gasteiz – 32 Festival De Jazz …read more

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Earlier this year you may remember me raving about Cassie Taylor, the daughter of the great blues musician Otis Taylor. Cassie is a fantastic musician in her own right, of course, and I mean no slight by mentioning her father. I saw her at the Chicago Blues Festival last month and I was captivated. Not only is she gorgeous, she is also very talented. She also was trying to get onto the Blues Foundation as one of the youngest members.
Unfortunately, I have not heard from her since that time. I did hope to …read more

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Can you believe it’s July 15 already? I know, I keep harping on how fast things are flying this year, or every year, but it’s so true. It seems like just yesterday that everyone was complaining about how brutal the winter was and I was slipping and falling on the ice while trying to get into my car. Now, it’s brutally hot and there are severe thunderstorms every other day and everyone is complaining about the heat.
One thing always helps and that’s being able to tell you about the new releases and various re-issues that …read more

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Right in the heart of Chicago’s Puerto Rican community is a park called Humboldt Park. Within that park is an open-air boathouse. Within that area, every year, the organization known as Jazz in Chicago holds a Latin Jazz Festival. It is one day every summer and it is totally, and completely free.
This year the event is being held July 11, 2008. That would be today, in case you don’t have a calendar handy. In case you are not familiar with Jazz in Chicago, well, you should check out the link above. They are another …read more

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Macomb is a city not far from Chicago. It is also a college town as Western Illinois University is there. It is known as a party town. Of course, colleges are some of the best places to see great jazz. Well, Macomb has a jazz festival that you should probably know about as part of my “Jazz Tours of the Midwest” tirade lately. You can find out about it by clicking HERE.
It is known as the “Al Sears Jazz Festival.” It is September 12 – 14, 2008.
SCHEDULE
Friday, September 12, 2008 …read more

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The twin cities of Bloomington and Normal sit about two hours to the south of Chicago. They are maybe three hours north of St. Louis. Bloomington is the international headquarters for State Farm Insurance and is also a big college town. It is also the LONGEST part of the drive either to and from Chicago and St. Louis. If you are driving from Chicago to St. Louis, the longest part of the journey (at least perception-wise) is that stretch between Chicago and Bloomington. The same holds true when you are driving back.
Well, they are the …read more

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I would love to have a picture of Cassie pointing straight out like the old Uncle Sam recruitment poster. Got a message from Cassie and I am putting out a call to all of you, my wonderful and faithful readers. You are the folks who helped me get the band the Sad Salamanders onto the playlist of WDCB by your sheer numbers and by reading here as often as you do. I could not do this without you. You leave great comments and you have taught me as much as I hope I have helped teach …read more

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Well, I spent time on Friday looking up jazz and blues festival within the 100 mile radius of Chicago. Of course, there are blues and jazz festivals all over the country. I am only one man, however, so I am sticking close to home. I often get to places like St. Louis and Milwaukee, so I included those in my search.
I had originally planned to go through this list and then try to present them to you in order of their dates. Yeah, well, that seems like it will take a lot of time, so I …read more

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