Easing the transition from winter to spring are these 10 bands round city and the suburbs. This listing spans energy pop to Southern blues to hip-hop.
Lakecia Benjamin
Jazz Showcase (806 S. Plymouth Ct.)
March 6–9 at 8 p.m.; tickets from $30
New York–primarily based saxophonist and composer Lakecia Benjamin got here to jazz by means of her early R&B, hip-hop and Latin music roots, having carried out and toured with stars like Anita Baker, Missy Elliott, Santigold, The Roots and Alicia Keys. Phoenix Reimagined, her newest album, reworks her 2023 report Phoenix, which earned three Grammy nominations and options vocalist Dianne Reeves, saxophonist Wayne Shorter and poet-activist Angela Davis. For this four-night residency, Benjamin will likely be joined by drummer Dorian Phelps, pianist Oscar Perez and bassist Elias Bailey.
The Bevis Frond with Helicopter Leaves
Schubas (3450 N. Southport Ave.)
March 6 at 8 p.m.; tickets from $25
Underground pop followers, unite: This present represents a uncommon alternative to listen to cult heroes The Bevis Frond on their first U.S. tour in 25 years. Band mastermind Nick Saloman is taken into account some of the revered songwriters of his era, connecting British people, psychedelia and grunge by means of music that’s stylistically excellent and all the time melodic. A part of the journey of following Saloman is each his prolific output — he has launched greater than 30 data in nearly 40 years — and his reluctance to tour outdoors his native England. Within the ‘90s, Juliana Hatfield, Elliott Smith, The Lemonheads and Teenage Fanclub helped expose Individuals to his music; Saloman can also be the topic of a documentary on the horizon referred to as Little Eden. This tour follows a double album, Give attention to Nature, launched final yr.
Alison Brown
House (1245 Chicago Ave., Evanston)
March 7 at 8 p.m.; tickets from $30
Nashville’s Alison Brown is likely one of the most distinguished and forward-looking banjo gamers at present. She has helped push the instrument into new realms, the place bluegrass and jazz discover frequent floor. She can also be the co-founder of The Compass Information Group, a progressive bluegrass label that lately entered its thirtieth yr, house to Chicago’s Particular Consensus and Robbie Fulks. On Banjo, her newest album, options company as assorted as Sierra Hull, The Kronos Quartet and sure, comic Steve Martin.
John Primer & Actual Deal Blues Band
Rosa’s (3420 W. Armitage Ave.)
March 8 at 11 p.m.; tickets from $20
That is the eightieth birthday occasion for Chicago blues legend John Primer. The guitarist moved right here from his native Mississippi within the early Sixties and joined the latter-day bands of Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters. After main Waters’ band, he performed with Magic Slim and the Teardrops for greater than a decade, rising within the late Nineteen Nineties as a solo artist. Amongst Primer’s company are Willie Buck, Mary Lane, Nora Jean Wallace, Matthew Skoller, Donna Herula and Tom Holland.
Chicago Psych Fest
Hideout (1354 W. Wabansia St.)
March 7–8 at 8 p.m.; tickets from $18
Author and underground rock historian Steve Krakow presents the fifteenth annual version of this two-night, old-school competition. This yr’s installment spans psych pop, drone, acid rock, art-punk and experimental jazz. Headlining are avant-garde popster Bobby Conn, prog rock’s The Flying Luttenbachers, Los Angeles psych band HEAD, noise rocker James Marlon Magas and The Form Of, that includes members of Chicago’s Lifeless Rider and Joan of Arc. The lineup goals to push the boundaries of genres in magical and mischievous methods. Two-day passes allow you to see all of the acts.
Justin Roberts and the Not Prepared for Naptime Gamers
Previous City Faculty of Folks Music (4544 N. Lincoln Ave.)
March 8 at 10:30 a.m.; tickets from $18
For practically 30 years, Chicago’s Justin Roberts has proved he’s a pop craftsman in a league with Elvis Costello, Fountains of Wayne and different believers in massive musical hooks and singable melodies. Mind Freeze, his seventeenth album, collects pop songs marketed completely to kids, though it really works simply as properly for fogeys. The Naptime Gamers, his longtime band, options a few of Chicago’s most celebrated pop musicians; this morning present focuses on the brand new report (due April 18) and can embrace puppets, animation, door prizes and (naturally) sing-alongs.
Otter Petter with Night time Swims, The Giving Moon and Moon Model
Chop Store (2033 W. North Ave.)
March 14 at 8 p.m.; tickets from $19
Final yr, Chicago’s Otter Petter launched Cobwebs, a sleeper EP that deserved wider recognition, given its robust set of literary-minded power-pop. The band — brothers Michael and William Pritchard on guitar and drums, with Nate Lindsey on bass — dates again to 2008 however emerged from COVID-19 hibernation with a barely expanded lineup that features keyboardist Hillary Stone. Like all lasting indie pop music, the three songs on Cobwebs function many candy spots to hold onto; right here’s hoping for extra to come back.
Slum Village with Vice Souletric
The Promontory (5311 S. Lake Park Ave. West)
March 19 at 8:30 p.m.; ticket from $27
Previous-school hip-hop trio Slum Village emerged from Detroit within the Nineteen Nineties, following within the footsteps of A Tribe Referred to as Quest and De La Soul. The group’s 2002 Trinity (Previous, Current and Future) stays a style basic for the way it seamlessly mixes funk, soul and lyrical complexity. The deaths of founding members J Dilla and Baatin left third co-founder T3 to hold the legacy ahead. This present options him with producer Younger RJ; final yr, the duo launched F.U.N., the group’s first album in nearly a decade.
John Grant
House (1245 Chicago Ave. in Evanston)
March 28 at 8 p.m.; tickets from $25
John Grant lives in Iceland however was raised in Michigan, so it’s little shock his music is usually lined with wry Midwestern humor, regardless of tackling heavy topics in his wealthy baritone. The singer-songwriter is troublesome to categorize; over six albums, his music has ranged from solitary piano confessionals to dance-floor funk. His profession has been equally eclectic, with collaborations as assorted as with Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. The Artwork of the Lie, his newest, is tailored for followers of alt-synth pioneers like Laurie Anderson and Vangelis, the composer who delivered the eerie soundtrack fantastic thing about Blade Runner.
JD Simo and Luther Dickinson
Robert’s Westside (7321 Madison St. in Forest Park)
March 29 at 8 p.m.; tickets from $25
Chicago-born guitarist JD Simo is one among Nashville’s go-to session gamers, having labored with artists as wide-ranging as Jack White and Beyoncé. His newest mission is a collaboration with guitarist and North Mississippi Allstars co-founder Luther Dickinson, whom he met when each toured with Phil Lesh, the late Grateful Lifeless bassist. On their shared album Do the Rump!, Simo and Dickinson commerce solos on originals that span grungy hill-country blues, Afrobeat and swamp rock.
Mark Guarino is a journalist primarily based in Chicago and the writer of Nation & Midwestern: Chicago within the Historical past of Nation Music and the Folks Revival.o
