John Tchicai
To free-jazz fans, the economic crisis and precipitously low value of the dollar aren’t all bad: These days, it’s cheaper than ever for Europeans to tour America. The past year has seen an increased influx of Continental acts; a legendary voice of European jazz seems to pop up at the Hideout or the Hungry Brain every other week.
So we expected the brains behind Umbrella Music—the collective of musicians, artists and promoters who’ve worked tirelessly to promote the city’s phenomenal free-jazz scene—to bring some big names to their annual fest. By all indications, they did. In its third year, the Umbrella Festival essentially has two components: the cream of Chicago’s free-jazz crop and the finest of Europe’s avant-garde. This year offers audacious examples of both.
The bracing young Austrian pianist Elisabeth Harnik (Chicago Cultural Center) often seeks out severe angles in her work, but her lithe technique can soften even the strangest juxtapositions. Pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, nearly twice Harnik’s age, hails from neighboring Germany but is far more informed by the inherent atonality of the bebop tradition; he’s the only pianist to record the entire Thelonious Monk oeuvre. Von Schlippenbach also founded the Globe Unity Orchestra, which, in its 40-year history, has featured prominent Chicago improvisers such as George Lewis, Anthony Braxton and Jeb Bishop. This week, he plays in duo with drummer Paul Lovens (CCC) as well as solo (Velvet Lounge). Also at the Cultural Center, the Rome-based trio Zu (which has toured alongside avant-rockers like Fantômas and the Melvins) serves up ferocious no wave and skronk, landing somewhere between the dry thump of Shellac and John Zorn’s most ragged noise.
Yet of all these daring voices, multi-instrumentalist John Tchicai’s rare appearance might be the most anticipated. Born and raised in Denmark to a Congolese father and Danish mother, Tchicai moved in 1962 to New York City, where his talents—an Earth-rattling gusto and a roving curiosity in pushing jazz’s formal limits—led him to work in several influential ensembles. Tchicai helped found the New York Art Quartet (itself inspired by the Art Ensemble of Chicago), played on John Coltrane’s epochal Ascension and today lives in both France and California, working as an educator and performer. He performs solo (Elastic), in a duo with drummer Hamid Drake (Hideout) and with a septet filled with local players including flutist Nicole Mitchell and drummer Mike Reed (Hungry Brain).
Americans make an impressive showing as well. Following a trio performance on Wednesday 5, Dutch pianist Michiel Braam will convene a Chicago version of his Bik Bent Braam large ensemble (Elastic), using a who’s who of Chicago’s best. Brooklyn’s Taylor Ho Bynum twists his cornet and flügelhorn into cartoonishly fun and exotic sounds (Hungry Brain). Our own tradition-minded cornetist Josh Berman leads his disciplined cool-bop quintet (Velvet Lounge); School of the Art Institute professor and Jamaica native Douglas Ewart summons the early AACM spirit with his group, Inventions (Hideout); and Jim Baker and his colleagues from the era-defining NRG Ensemble (Hungry Brain) dive into the manic free-jazz they hone every week at Hotti Biscotti. If you’re looking for the recession’s silver lining, this festival just might be it.