![\"unnamed-14\"](\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/unnamed-14.jpg\")
<\/a>Kahil El’Zabar, Harrison Bankhead and David Murray at the Alhambra Palace, produced by HotHouse; photo by Marc PoKempner.<\/p><\/div>\n
It’s demonstrable that when jazz players and listeners\u00c2\u00a0alight\u00c2\u00a0at all-purpose spaces such as Chicago’s Alhambra Palace<\/a>, where Hot House<\/a> produced the trio of saxophonist David Murray, bassist Harrison Bankhead and percussionist Kahil El’Zabar<\/strong> \u00c2\u00a0on Monday, Dec. 12, or\u00c2\u00a0The Promontory<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0in Hyde Park, where flutist Nicole Mitchell, cellist Tomeka Reid and multi-instrumentalists Maia led ensembles\u00c2\u00a0in\u00c2\u00a0Voices Heard: Expressions of Visionary Black Women<\/strong><\/a> on Saturday, Dec. 10 — we bring the empathetic\u00c2\u00a0attentions that lend\u00c2\u00a0the moment’s sounds memorable significance, wherever those moments take place.<\/p>\n Janis Lane-Ewart, AACM curator and Minneapolis radio personality, and singer Dee Alexander at Promontory for\u00c2\u00a0Voices Heard (your blogger over Dee’s right shoulder). Photo by Lauren Deutsch.<\/p><\/div>\n Promontory, a 300-capacity room with copious table seating and bar space (plus in the summertime, an open-air veranda), features all sorts of events — local DJs and r&b groups, Latin dance nights, family holiday shows, homemade crafts fairs and\u00c2\u00a0acts typically ranging from local rappers, djs and r&b stars to off-beat touring choices such as Average White Band. Voices Heard (produced by a coalition of\u00c2\u00a0the Jazz Institute of Chicago<\/a>, the David and Reba Logan Center for the Arts<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians<\/a>, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation<\/a>), however, was a special two-day fest of talents too often and too long overlooked.<\/p>\n Mankwe Ndosi and Tomeka Reid, photo by Lauren Deutsch.<\/p><\/div>\n On Saturday, keyboardist and vocalist Amina Claudine Myers, one of the very first AACM members 50 years ago, improvised a warm, beguiling set with Mitchell. Vocalist Mankwe Ndosi and cellist \u00c2\u00a0Tomeka Reid performed uproariously, using loops and\u00c2\u00a0other effects; the first ever AACM band of\u00c2\u00a0women, Samana, reunited with Maia emphatic on vibes; Mitchell on flute; Coco Elysses playing tympani and percussion; Shanta Nurullah on bass and mbira; singers Rita Warford, Africa Brown and Ugochi Nwaogwugwu, and<\/u>\u00c2\u00a0baritone saxophonist\/digeridooist Mwata Bowden as an honorary male member. The group\u00c2\u00a0spun out a long collaborative take on a theme by Maia (who also plays harp).<\/p>\n Hot House shows commence after the audience stands and joins hands. Photo by Marc PoKempner.<\/p><\/div>\n In both cases, the audiences comprised familiar coteries of friends and associates. This is nice for those of us who know each other, but suggests the challenge facing these musicians and presenters in attracting new listeners. In both cases the music, familiar or not, offered rewards.<\/p>\n At the Alhambra, a spacious facility with Arabian Nights decor in its main serving and meeting rooms, balcony and bars, El’Zabar was in particularly strong\u00c2\u00a0form on djemb\u00c3\u00a9,traps set and mbira, bassist Bankhead sensitive to each nuanced\u00c2\u00a0fluctuation of drum accents and volume, world-traveling Murray at home with his companions but also lifting their game with\u00c2\u00a0his own assertive energy.<\/p>\n Kahil El’Zabar, photo by Marc PoKempner.<\/p><\/div>\n At Promontory, the black women in creative music made their statement that music isn’t the performance province of only one sex, and of course it values elders as well as youngsters.<\/p>\n Every time that point is made it’s a victory\u00c2\u00a0for all\u00c2\u00a0and a step towards attracting people who may have previously felt shut out; now they’re specifically acknowledged and invited in. Both these venues were, at least for the length of the concerts,\u00c2\u00a0transformed from accommodating if somewhat impersonal halls into clubhouses welcoming\u00c2\u00a0devotees. Whenever\u00c2\u00a0spirited artists entertain their followers in flexible performance spaces, the events and attendees leave their\u00c2\u00a0impressions, ghostly vibes\u00c2\u00a0that subtly attune the sites\u00c2\u00a0for whoever comes\u00c2\u00a0next and later.<\/p>\n Thanks as always to my good friends Lauren Deutsch and Marc PoKempner for their lustrous images.<\/em><\/p>\n howardmandel.com<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe by Email or RSS<\/a> There are good arguments for building venues just\u00c2\u00a0for jazz.\u00c2\u00a0But speaking of arts communities in general: Most are moveable feasts, fluid, transient, at best inviting to newcomers to the table. It’s demonstrable that when jazz players and listeners\u00c2\u00a0alight\u00c2\u00a0at all-purpose spaces such as Chicago’s Alhambra Palace, where Hot House produced the trio of saxophonist David Murray, bassist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[57,201,521,1355,20,540,1393,1448,1359,123,1449,1447,1450,1404,1446],"class_list":{"0":"post-2139","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main","8":"tag-aacm","9":"tag-association-for-the-advancement-of-creative-musicians","10":"tag-david-murray","11":"tag-howard-mandel","12":"tag-jazz","13":"tag-kahil-elzabar","14":"tag-lauren-deutsch","15":"tag-maia","16":"tag-marc-pokempner","17":"tag-nicole-mitchell","18":"tag-promontory","19":"tag-samana","20":"tag-the-alhambra-palace","21":"tag-tomeka-reid","22":"tag-voices-heard","23":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/unnamed-12.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-yv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1401,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2013\/09\/chicago-jazz-festival-13-in-marc-pokempners-photos.html","url_meta":{"origin":2139,"position":0},"title":"Chicago Jazz Festival ’13, in Marc PoKempner’s photos","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"September 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Photo-journalist Marc PoKempner, a long-time collaborator and one of my bffs, has a clear eye as well as a sharp ear for music. He captured some of the diversity and vigor of the 35th annual Chicago Jazz Festival, August 28 - Sept 1 \u00c2\u00a02013. Click on these photos for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/rudresh-collage-chicago-jazz-fest-2013.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/rudresh-collage-chicago-jazz-fest-2013.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/rudresh-collage-chicago-jazz-fest-2013.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/rudresh-collage-chicago-jazz-fest-2013.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1856,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2015\/04\/jazz-chicago-this-week-starting-with-nea-jazz-master-joe-segal.html","url_meta":{"origin":2139,"position":1},"title":"Jazz Chicago this week — starting with NEA Jazz Master Joe Segal","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"April 24, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Too much jazz\u00c2\u00a0in Chicago this week to write at length about it all, but also too much to ignore: Congrats to Joe Segal, proprietor of the Jazz Showcase\u00c2\u00a0forever, at various spots, inducted as an NEA Jazz Master. I owe Joe Segal big time, as he encouraged my 17-year-old interests in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/dscf6470.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/dscf6470.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/dscf6470.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/dscf6470.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/dscf6470.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":257,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2009\/10\/jazz_foundation_knows_how_to_p.html","url_meta":{"origin":2139,"position":2},"title":"Jazz Foundation knows how to party","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"October 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"To raise money for musicians' health and welfare, how 'bout a jazz party? In three lofts with river views, a thousand attendees of every age, shape, style enjoyed food 'n' drink 'n' performances including Jimmy Heath playing \"Gingerbread Boy,\" Arturo O'Farrill's teen sons mastering Latin jazz, baritone saxist Hamiet Bluiett\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2924,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2021\/08\/city-of-chicago-music-promoter.html","url_meta":{"origin":2139,"position":3},"title":"City of Chicago, music promoter","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"August 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Lollapalooza 2021 had some 385,000 attendees (without significant Covid-19 outbreak, fortunately) but featured little of host Chicago's indigenous talent or styles. And that's just wrong, declared Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events commissioner Mark Kelly, launching the month-long Chicago in Tune Mark Kelly, photos \u00c2\u00a9 Lauren Deutsch \"festival\" at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/MPOK0299-e.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/MPOK0299-e.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/MPOK0299-e.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/MPOK0299-e.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":355,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2010\/11\/announcing_eyejazztv_happy_45t.html","url_meta":{"origin":2139,"position":4},"title":"Announcing eyeJAZZ.tv & Happy 45th b’day AACM","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"November 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"eyeJAZZ.tv, a wave of guerrilla video music-news clips being initiated by the Jazz Journalists Association, has posted its first example -- my brief production\u00a0from last week's 45th birthday concert of the AACM featuring composer-saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, flutist and AACM chair Nicole Mitchell (no relation) and saxophonist Ari Brown, at Chicago's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"eJAZZBLU logo.png","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/assets_c\/2010\/11\/eJAZZBLU%20logo-thumb-125x125-18098.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3051,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2023\/01\/supermusician-roscoe-mitchells-paintings.html","url_meta":{"origin":2139,"position":5},"title":"“Supermusician” Roscoe Mitchell’s paintings revealed!","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"January 25, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Roscoe Mitchell -- internationally renown composer, improviser, ensemble leader, winds and reeds virtuoso who has pioneered the use of \"little instruments\" and dramatic shifts of sonic scale in the course of becoming a \"supermusician . . .someone who moves freely in music, but, of course, with a well established background\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/DSF4323.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/DSF4323.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/DSF4323.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/DSF4323.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/DSF4323.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>
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