Billy Branch | Preview of the 2015 Chicago Blues Fest

By TOM BOWSER

On May 14, 2015, three time Grammy nominated blues harmonica player Billy Branch with Dan Carelli (playing a resonator guitar) gave the audience a preview of what to expect at the upcoming 2015, Chicago Blues Festival. Admission was FREE as part of “Speakin’ of the Blues: Celebrating the Willie Dixon Centennial”. The venue was the comfortably sized "Cindy Pritzker Auditorium" at the Harold Washington Library Center in downtown Chicago. The acoustics of the theater made it perfect for the event. Learn more ...

Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues will perform at the 32ND annual Chicago Blues Festival, June 12-14, 2015. Learn more about the Chicago Blues Festival and other things to do in Chicago at the Inspired Chicago Web site.



The Chicago style of Blues music has influenced many other genres of music and internationally famous musicians to include blues rockers Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, ZZ Top, Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, David Gilmore of Pink Floyd and many more.

The Chicago Blues Festival is one of the largest FREE blues festivals in the United States. It is an international event attended by people from around the world. If you have not been to Chicago for a while it's time to plan a visit. See you there! Enjoy music, enjoy life, be kind to others. Tom

The Chicago Jazz Festival | 4 Days of Free Jazz

By TOM BOWSER

September 3 - September 6, 2015

People from all over the world attend the Chicago Jazz Festival. It is one of the largest Free jazz festivals in the United States. You can see diverse jazz styles played by both nationally and internationally known musicians from Chicago and throughout the United States. The performance venues range from small and intimate to large outdoor events held at Pritzker Pavilion in Millenium Park (with comfortable seating & plenty of bathrooms. The atmosphere is friendly. There is great food and a variety of hotels within walking distance of the festival events.

One of my favorite non music events during last years Chicago Jazz Festival was a film screening of director Robert Mugge's film "Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise". Robert attended the screening and answered questions about the film and his experience working with Sun Ra and his band.



I was fortunate to see the internationally known jazz legend Sun Ra perform before he passed on to the "omniverse". Sun Ra influenced countless great jazz musicians including the internationally known (Chicago native) bassist Richard Davis. One night, many years ago I produced live sound for an event at which Richard Davis and Roscoe Mitchell performed. That night reignited my interest in jazz music.


The following are a few of the musicians my wife and I saw perform at last years (2014) Chicago Jazz Festival. Enjoy music, enjoy life, be kind to others. Tom

The Paulinho Garcia Quintet

Paulinho Garcia (guitar and vocals), Heitor Garcia (percussion), Geraldo de Oliveira (percussion), Dedé Sampaio (drums), and Greg Fishman (saxophone)

Vibraphonist Gary Burton

Gary Burton (vibraphone), Vadim Neselovskyi (piano), Jorge Roeder (bass), Henry Cole (drums), and Julian Lage (guitar)

David Boykin Expanse

David Boykin (saxophonist on left), Josh Abrams, James Baker (piano), Marcus Evans (drums), Dan Godston (trumpet), Nicole Mitchell (flute), Jayve Montgomery (saxophone), Shanta Nurullah, Eliel Sherman Storey (saxophone), and Alex Wing (guitar)