BlueStem Jazz presents Gerrit Hatcher and Erez Dessel Gerrit Hatcher and Erez Dessel present a new project rooted in the tradition but looking ahead, never bound by aesthetics and deeply grounded by an improvisatory practice that spans space and time. Their duo music includes free improvisation as well as compositions: original, repertory, lesser-known and traditional. Gerrit Hatcher (USA 1991) […]

BlueStem Jazz presents Son Reis Project Son Reis Project is an experimental instrumental trio from the Fox Valley, Wisconsin, led by saxophonist and composer Jason Reisdorf, with Jason Goessl on Bass VI and Ryan Thomas on drums. The group blends the raw edge of no wave and post-punk with the improvisational freedom of jazz, the […]

BlueStem Jazz presents Dave Rempis / “Jason Cambrian” Duo followed by Jeb Bishop + Tim Daisy + Allen Moore Buy Tickets Tim Daisy is an American drummer and composer working in the fields ofimprovised and composed music. Tim moved to Chicago in 1997 and since that time has performed, recorded, and toured with many national […]

Nate Wooley – trumpet/amplifier Chris Corsano – percussion/half-clarinet/electronics Ches Smith – percussion/sampler/electronics After a decade of conceptually-minded bands such as Mutual Aid Music and knknighgh, trumpeter Nate Wooley put together the trio Folk Music to reconnect with pure improvisation. Asking two of his favorite collaborators, the percussionists Chris Corsano and Ches Smith, to join him […]

Wayfaring is the duo project of clarinetist James Falzone and bassist/singer Katie Ernst. Intermezzo is Wayfaring’s follow-up recording to their 2016 critically acclaimed, I Move, You Move, which was described as “one of the most austerely beautiful recordings of the year” by the Chicago Tribune. Started in Chicago in 2015 as a casual meeting of two […]

Tickets Dave Rempis / Tyler Damon Duo Dave Rempis – saxophones Tyler Damon – drums This powerful duo encapsulates the hard-working Chicago improvised music scene in a nutshell. Tyler Damon’s extensive vocabulary behind the kit has positioned him as an important figure in the American underground. Whether he’s working with improvised stalwarts like Mars Williams […]

Tickets Tommaso Moretti Tommaso Moretti is a drummer and composer from Italy who relocated to Chicago in 2013. Upon arrival he has been actively involved in different local music scenes, frequently collaborating and releasing albums as a side musician with artists and bands such as: Ben Lamar Gay, Bottle Tree, Rob Frye, Eric Hines Pan […]

Described as “an intrepid composer, architect of sound and beast of the bass…” (Brad Cohan, NYC Jazz Record) composer, bassist, and improviser Max Johnson is one of the most prolific music makers in the jazz, bluegrass, improvised music, and contemporary classical worlds. Johnson has released nearly 20 albums and performed over three thousand concerts internationally […]

American multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Zucker (piano, synth, voice) and Hungarian drummer Till Jarvis have been making music since they met in 2017 in New York. Living in separate continents, Zucker and Jarvis have developed the unique synergy of their wide-ranging and ambitious duo project playing in short spans of a week or two at a time […]

Damon Smith studied double bass with Lisle Ellis andhas had lessons with Bertram Turetzky, Joëlle Léandr, John Lindberg, Mark Dresser and others. Damon’s explorations into the sonic palette of the double bass have resulted in a personal, flexible improvisational language based inthe American jazz avant-garde movement and European non-idiomatic free improvisation. Visual art, film and dance […]