Jazz on Jackson Stage

The Milton Suggs Philosophy Noon On his third album, this summer’s terrific Lyrical, Volume 1 (Skiptone), Chicagoan Milton Suggs affirms his place as one of the best jazz singers to emerge in the past decade. Most of the songs are classic vocalese—Suggs has written words to themes by the likes of Wayne Shorter, Blue Mitchell, and Lee Morgan—but he avoids excessive improvised ornamentation, instead focusing on careful, soulful phrasing that’s redolent of Donny Hathaway more than Johnny Hartman. (He kills it on the album’s one contemporary soul number, “Will You Fly With Me?”) Here and there Suggs harmonizes with himself via deft overdubs, but even a single track of his voice is a marvel. —PM

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Ken Vandermark’s Made to Break Quartet2:20 PM For this relatively new quartet with Chicago drummer Tim Daisy, LA-based electric bassist Devin Hoff, and Buenos Aires-based Austrian electronicist Christof Kurzmann, Ken Vandermark has written hard-hitting modular compositions ready to be disassembled and re­organized on the fly by anyone in the band. When these guys get rolling, they tend toward off-kilter grooves with more than a little funk in them, and Kurzmann often processes the output of his bandmates in real time. —PM

Young Jazz Lions Stage

Chi Arts Jazz Combo Noon

Jazz & Heritage Stage

Edwin Sanchez Project 12:30 PM Chicago pianist Edwin Sanchez, raised in Humboldt Park, carries on the city’s broad-­minded Latin-jazz aesthetic; this eight-­member, three-percussionist band blends it with soul and funk. —PM

Steve Coleman & Five Elements 7:10 PM If you combined supernerdy intellectualism with intense musicality and a panoramic grasp of jazz history, you might wind up with Steve Coleman. One of the most influential players and thinkers of the past 20 years, he cofounded Brooklyn collective M-Base in the 80s, using it as a nursery for his concept. But Coleman’s journey began in the early 70s in his native Chicago, where he frequently joined in at the late Von Freeman’s legendary New Apartment Lounge jam sessions, and he’s never forgotten his roots—to this day he cites Vonski’s indelible impact on his development. Coleman moved to New York at age 22, in 1978, and evolved his own instantly recognizable approach: cyclical repetitions, highly articulate improvising, layers of odd time signatures, and an often funky feel. A freakishly devoted player and demanding bandleader, he creates extremely complex musical contexts that force his players—within quite strict parameters—to think their way out of the proverbial box. In many ways, Coleman has provided jazz with a new paradigm, though only a few (Greg Osby, Vijay Iyer, Steve Lehman, Rudresh Mahanthappa) practice it with the rigor and imagination that he does. This manifestation of Coleman’s Five Elements includes trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson, bassist Matt Brewer, and drummer Marcus Gilmore. —JC

Our picks for:

  • •Thursday and Friday
  • •Saturday
  • •The aftershows

•The aftershows