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Eccentric Soul Revue featuring Renaldo Domino, Linda Balintine, Notations, Syl Johnson, Sharon Clark, and Pastor TL Barrett
Sat., Nov. 7, 9 p.m.
773-525-2501Rock, Pop, Etc
Last seen in a glorious Park West performance in April, the Eccentric Soul Revue—a good old-fashioned package bill that Chicago's Numero Group has put together to showcase just a few of the many performers whose music it has rescued from oblivion and stunningly repackaged for its Eccentric Soul series—is kicking off a brief tour at the new Lincoln Hall before stops in Pontiac, Columbus, D.C., Pittsburgh, New York, and Philly. The lineup's slightly different for each city, featuring performances from acts representative of each town. While I'm jealous New York will get to see Missy Dee perform the early-80s disco rap featured on Numero's triple LP Don't Stop: Recording Tap, Chicago's in for what promise to be stellar performances from Pastor TL Barrett and his choir, who appear on the upcoming Good God! Born Again Funk (available early at these shows); Sharon Clark, featured on Young Disciples, a comp of late-60s East Saint Louis soul that came out of a youth community center; and Chicago native Linda Balintine, who was just 16 when she recorded for Bandit, a south-side label run by the infamous Arrow Brown, subject of the 2005 Reader cover story "The Godfather of King Drive." Headliners from April's revue also return for most shows, including Chicago: Renaldo Domino, the Notations, and Syl Johnson, all backed by JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound. —Brian Costello
$30, 18+
River North Chicago Dance Company
Sat., Nov. 7, 8 p.m. 312-334-7777Dance
If I say “psychological,” you might think “contemplative.” But Forbidden Boundaries, a new work about “being your own worst enemy” by RNCDC artistic director Frank Chaves, is anything but. Fierce battles for control dominate this piece for 12, which consists mostly of duets in which one dancer embodies an aspect of the psyche that holds another back. Old habits of mind are represented by loose, sheer shirts—sometimes partly stripped off to bind the arms, giving Forbidden Boundaries an odd but powerful sexiness. Founding co-artistic director Sherry Zunker contributes Evolution of a Dream, a revision of her 1992 hit Reality of a Dreamer, in celebration of the company’s 20th anniversary. The original piece was set to the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams”; this version uses a more ethereal version of the same song by Dave Stewart & His Rock Fabulous Orchestra, and the dancers even look like angels at times. Monique Haley’s Uhuru and Chaves’s Sentir em Nos, Tuscan Rift, Beat, and Habaneras, the Music of Cuba round out the program. --Laura Molzahn $30-$65
Akira Sakata, Jeff Parker, Nate McBride, and John Herndon; Mike Reed's Loose Assembly with Roscoe Mitchell; Vox Arcana; DJs John Corbett & Joshua Abrams
Sat., Nov. 7, 9 p.m. 773-227-4433 or 866-468-3401Jazz
When Japanese reedist Akira Sakata came to the world's attention in the early 70s as a member of the explosive free-jazz trio led by pianist Yosuke Yamashita, his driving, manic energy and exploratory upper-register squalls were hallmarks of his searing improvisational style. By the early 80s, though, after striking out on his own, he'd either lost his way or was hell-bent on trying something radically different—singing Japanese folk songs, making pop-leaning records, getting mixed up with electric bassist and producer Bill Laswell. But happily, in the past half-decade or so Sakata has rediscovered his focus and killer sound. I don't know if former Chicagoan Jim O'Rourke is responsible for this shift, but he's been playing with and producing records for Sakata, enlisting two American colleagues—drummer Chris Corsano and bassist Darin Gray—as his working band, Chikamorachi. On Friendly Pants (Family Vineyard), the first Sakata recording released stateside in decades, the reedist unleashes plenty of sinus-clearing torrents, but his playing also reveals a refreshing compositional logic and lyrical tenderness. O'Rourke stays behind the board, spotlighting what an effective, empathetic trio Chikamorachi has become. Tonight, in his first-ever Chicago performance (part of the Umbrella Music Festival), Sakata is joined by bassist Nate McBride, guitarist Jeff Parker, and drummer John Herndon—essentially Ken Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound without Vandermark. Mike Reed's Loose Assembly (with guest Roscoe Mitchell) and Vox Arcana open. On Sunday (also as part of Umbrella) Sakata performs with Chikamorachi at the Hungry Brain. —Peter Margasak
$15Melissa St. Pierre
Sun., Nov. 8, 2 p.m. 773-769-1069Experimental
At some time or other, plenty of modern composers, from John Cage to Christian Wolff, have used prepared piano—that is, piano with various objects laid upon or wedged between the strings and dampers to modify the sound, which is sometimes created by playing the keys and sometimes by striking or plucking strings or other parts. But twentysomething Pittsburgher Melissa St. Pierre has made prepared piano her calling card. Her approach is heavily percussive and obviously meticulous: there's nothing vaguely aleatoric or improvised-sounding on her power-packed debut, Specimens (Table of the Elements/Radium, 2008). She weaves the alien clangs and clanks of her manipulations into propulsive, minimalistic, musical vignettes, with an assist from members of Milwaukee's Collections of Colonies of Bees, who add some electronic skitters and conventional percussion; the results suggest a hyperactive junkyard gamelan. St. Pierre performs solo here, as part of the inaugural weekend of the five-week-long Outer Ear Festival of Sound. After the show she'll conduct a prepared-piano workshop from 4 to 6 PM; tuition is $30, $25 for students and ESS members. Melissa St. Pierre also plays Monday with Technical Drawings at Links Hall. —Peter Margasak
$10 suggested donationTopology, Akira Sakata and Chikamorachi, Head With Wings
Sun., Nov. 8, 9 p.m. 773-935-2118Jazz
Topology, Joe McPhee noted in his liner notes to his 1981 album of that name, is a form of mathematics that "deals with all conceivable forms, abstract and multidimensional as well as those that can be drawn." That description also pretty much nails the Poughkeepsie-based multi-instrumentalist's extraordinarily inclusive music. His recent playing in totally improvised settings encompasses the full range of conventional and nonconventional technique on a myriad of reed and brass instruments and resonates sympathetically with such disparate accompaniments as the muffled traffic heard through the bar's door on the upcoming live solo LP Alto (Roaratorio) and the engulfing cacophony of nearly a dozen other impassioned improvisers with Peter Brötzmann's Chicago Tentet. But on the records he made during the 70s and 80s for the Swiss Hat Hut labels, he found ways to play just as freely while deeply engaging specific elements of jazz's roots and branches; lusty blues on "Knox," Ayler-esque gospel on "Astral Spirits," and Miles Davis's baleful funk on "Future Retrospective." Those are among the ten tunes that Ken Vandermark has arranged for Topology, a group he's convened to play that Hat Hut-era material; it includes Jeb Bishop, Tim Daisy, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jason Adasiewicz, Josh Berman, Dave Rempis, Ken Kessler, and featured soloist Joe McPhee on pocket trumpet and fluegelhorn. McPhee also plays in a duo with local cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm on Monday at the U. of C.'s Bond Chapel. —Bill Meyer
When Japanese reedist Akira Sakata came to the world's attention in the early 70s as a member of the explosive free-jazz trio led by pianist Yosuke Yamashita, his driving, manic energy and exploratory upper-register squalls were hallmarks of his searing improvisational style. By the early 80s, though, after striking out on his own, he'd either lost his way or was hell-bent on trying something radically different—singing Japanese folk songs, making pop-leaning records, getting mixed up with electric bassist and producer Bill Laswell. But happily, in the past half-decade or so Sakata has rediscovered his focus and killer sound. I don't know if former Chicagoan Jim O'Rourke is responsible for this shift, but he's been playing with and producing records for Sakata, enlisting two American colleagues—drummer Chris Corsano and bassist Darin Gray—as his working band, Chikamorachi. On Friendly Pants (Family Vineyard), the first Sakata recording released stateside in decades, the reedist unleashes plenty of sinus-clearing torrents, but his playing also reveals a refreshing compositional logic and lyrical tenderness. O'Rourke stays behind the board, spotlighting what an effective, empathetic trio Chikamorachi has become. This show is part of the Umbrella Music Festival. Sakata also plays at the Hideout on Saturday, where he's joined by bassist Nate McBride, guitarist Jeff Parker, and drummer John Herndon—essentially Ken Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound without Vandermark. —Peter Margasak
$15 suggested donationJoe McPhee & Fred Lonberg-Holm
Mon., Nov. 9, 8 p.m. 773-702-8670Jazz
Joe McPhee noted in his liner notes to his 1981 album of that name, is a form of mathematics that "deals with all conceivable forms, abstract and multidimensional as well as those that can be drawn." That description also pretty much nails the Poughkeepsie-based multi-instrumentalist's extraordinarily inclusive music. His recent playing in totally improvised settings encompasses the full range of conventional and nonconventional technique on a myriad of reed and brass instruments and resonates sympathetically with such disparate accompaniments as the muffled traffic heard through the bar's door on the upcoming live solo LP Alto (Roaratorio) and the engulfing cacophony of nearly a dozen other impassioned improvisers with Peter Brötzmann's Chicago Tentet. But on the records he made during the 70s and 80s for the Swiss Hat Hut labels, he found ways to play just as freely while deeply engaging specific elements of jazz's roots and branches; lusty blues on "Knox," Ayler-esque gospel on "Astral Spirits," and Miles Davis's baleful funk on "Future Retrospective." McPhee also plays with Topology at the Hungry Brain on Sunday. --Bill Meyer
Art Brut, Surfer Blood, Frigates
Tue., Nov. 10, 9 p.m. 773-525-2501Rock, Pop, Etc
Bands don't often come out of the gate as strong as this group of young Floridians. Their debut album, Astro Coast (due January 19 on Kanine Records), works a nice, tight strip of the musical spectrum that's the shortest possible distance between Brian Eno's perverse-pop phase and the first Weezer record. Front man John Paul Pitts can hit all the high notes but does so with a vaguely British detatchment, and a lot of the record is given over to songs like "Harmonix" that decorate a sparse melodic frame with brilliant unexpected touches, like a melody constructed of plucked guitar harmonics or a lead that splits the difference between surf rock and highlife. But then there are a few that're mostly just giant blasts of supercatchy, densely fuzzy guitar pop, not trying to do anything other than deliver riffs and hooks as crunchtastically as possible. Better hope the dudes aren't dicks, because there are about to be seven billion articles and blog posts about them. —Miles Raymer
$15, 18+
Haptic with Lisa Slodki
Tue., Nov. 10, 6 p.m. 312-280-2660International
For a group that was originally conceived as a vehicle for improvisation and live collaboration with invited fourth parties, the local electroacoustic trio Haptic has adapted quite well to more permanent formats. Not only is it hard to tell what's played, what's processed, and what's an environmental field recording on their new album, Trebuchet (Entr'acte), it's really beside the point. The music is in constant flux, so that by the time you think you've identified a sound it's already changed, but it's so marvelously tactile you don't want to let it go; "Four," the disc's third track, feels like a warm blanket woven from wool, radiator hiss, and radio static. This month the Museum of Contemporary Art's 12 x 12 gallery is hosting an installation by Haptic and video artist Lisa Slodki. It consists of looped images, some of which have previously accompanied Haptic in concert, and the sounds of her equipment, which are picked up, amplified and played back into the room on a sound system devised by Haptic. Haptic and Slodki will perform live in the gallery on three successive Tuesdays; tonight they'll also present a talk about the installation at 6 PM. —Bill Meyer
