Looking for jazz and justice in a world falling apart.
"Thanks to all American supporters. Without them, we will probably be defeated in three days...but as we got help, we really appreciate that," a young, local chant leader told me. "When the conference [between Trump and Zelenskyy] happened...we couldn't stand aside. We will stand for our rights."
“The fight - it is in the [Chicago City] Council, it is in the courts, but it’s in the streets. It is in our neighborhoods to make sure that we don’t allow these cowards to come and terrorize us.”
As she inches closer towards her first official release, Livia Gazzolo’s shows continue to be warm, intimate affairs. Meek and delicate at times, but inevitably bursting - with color, culture, and a diversity of tongues - into a roar that seemingly tells the world: “I am here, and to stay.”
"[ICE is] targeting warehouses…‘Oh they’re just supporting criminals!’ But that’s very on the contrary…they’re also deporting a lot of families in very unjust ways."
As Joe took to the mic to open the night, he described the upcoming music as a “hellfire of sexy jazz,” which got a laugh out of the crowd, but would wind up being dead-on in the way a fire burns bright before simmering.
"In and out, then in, then out. Simple, then not. Looped samples of inspiration much like I heard at The Whistler this past summer…that night’s sound leaned more into the contemporary jazz/neo-soul category, with added elements of world music as well. And Japanese RPG-esque DnB vamps."
Tim Follin appeared to be concerned with one thing only: Be badass, cool, and funky - from the moment you burn out at the start of a level to the moment the criminal car blows up in over-the-top, copaganda fashion.
As of this writing, I have yet to see Ricky face-to-face since he left Chicago, so hearing this album is like a postcard from a new adventure.
“So when are you gonna get to the jazz?” Greene sarcastically asked himself on the mic. “People ask ‘when are you gonna play standards,’” he continued, as the audience laughed, “for god’s sake y’all act like you don’t know what I’m doing!”
Perhaps it wasn’t exactly the way the great Sonny Rollins would envision it - a typical Winfield crowd celebrating someone’s 60th birthday (give or take) does contrast with the folk songs of the 1930s Virgin Islands - but it did make everyone happy, much like that song does.
![[2/2] MCKINLEY PARK, SATURDAY, 5/16/26. About 50 people turned out for a protest at an Amazon warehouse in Chicago’s southwest side. About two dozen blocked two separate driveways during a stand-in that lasted over four hours. As a result, Amazon delivery vans remained in the lot, and task-less warehouse workers congregated in the loading zone, watching events unfold.](https://scontent-iad6-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/701495763_17991259265968438_5680985416150261141_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_tt6&_nc_cat=107&ccb=7-5&_nc_sid=18de74&efg=eyJlZmdfdGFnIjoiQ0FST1VTRUxfSVRFTS5iZXN0X2ltYWdlX3VybGdlbi5DMyJ9&_nc_ohc=hvh3kRCDSJYQ7kNvwHO5Drk&_nc_oc=Adp902pc_WtiagV0HHo-x1RFOu-3JlNflAfYTMUCKyT2d2ULCr0GUCWrov2aiO24sDA&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-iad6-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&_nc_gid=F3iuNQ2sS10cZ4b_L3iQ2w&_nc_tpa=Q5bMBQF-6NqDSk-y91cSKqJ_IsZnj-xe2xtc8-fM3C1j5El-eP49sCrj1DFWWoiELLXpJe_D9n_wuPuaFA&oh=00_Af_PThMpaKP4vxZl4n8vabXU8hlGSx5WiZl5tf2DwxZ_Dw&oe=6A25AFF3)
![[1/2] MCKINLEY PARK, SATURDAY, 5/16/26. About 50 people turned out for a protest at an Amazon warehouse in Chicago’s southwest side. About two dozen blocked two separate driveways during a stand-in that lasted over four hours. As a result, Amazon delivery vans remained in the lot, and task-less warehouse workers congregated in the loading zone, watching events unfold.](https://scontent-iad3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/701140321_17991078737968438_7822565947752867604_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_tt6&_nc_cat=110&ccb=7-5&_nc_sid=18de74&efg=eyJlZmdfdGFnIjoiQ0FST1VTRUxfSVRFTS5iZXN0X2ltYWdlX3VybGdlbi5DMyJ9&_nc_ohc=p-PfGUwSqN4Q7kNvwFLNz3G&_nc_oc=Ado2eXOPRFwy2h9kqz6-kiD9ha3IJu43asUnkVGRsxMOoXyxLIYu0kjsPVgwWtwoPIE&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&_nc_gid=F3iuNQ2sS10cZ4b_L3iQ2w&_nc_tpa=Q5bMBQFOFCQpjth5iQoc4a8Fy2XVpFJahsFnVhRTV0W05Wt8vhq4-W78CQRhOK6U5UFQQLMhKxCjou-lqw&oh=00_Af-h-wONPXF_z0VKcN7004H7_hAQYFNjeMeH0_Hi6kLF9w&oe=6A2599CE)
![[2/2] LOGAN SQUARE, SUNDAY, 5/3/26—The Illinois chapter of General Strike US (@gsus_illinois) held their May Day Fest at Paradise Garden, providing free grilled food and a variety of community-building activities to the public.](https://scontent-iad6-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/671222656_17990444207968438_4925192430784216629_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_tt6&_nc_cat=100&ccb=7-5&_nc_sid=18de74&efg=eyJlZmdfdGFnIjoiQ0FST1VTRUxfSVRFTS5iZXN0X2ltYWdlX3VybGdlbi5DMyJ9&_nc_ohc=DR2GS5dYI9kQ7kNvwGCJ2ew&_nc_oc=AdpK8Wf9CJ3teMPj9TiDYrBmob0_tRvR21jcbQk66_JkFv7xY8YtjAkqMQMmkDNmUyc&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-iad6-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&_nc_gid=F3iuNQ2sS10cZ4b_L3iQ2w&_nc_tpa=Q5bMBQF18vHo_3La1rG1IIeT-TP1ng5LmGuhEfKPe27y9z5bxBL4XufZ222Fhw29QH3_yN3DysBmMbKGcQ&oh=00_Af_7qIMdy346nP4NJbYZzxeTIHHp67HoT85DfifCBkkpJw&oe=6A25891F)
![[1/2] LOGAN SQUARE, SUNDAY, 5/3/26—The Illinois chapter of General Strike US (@gsus_illinois) held their May Day Fest at Paradise Garden, providing free grilled food and a variety of community-building activities to the public.](https://scontent-iad6-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/696060265_17990318495968438_1689763027500791581_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_tt6&_nc_cat=109&ccb=7-5&_nc_sid=18de74&efg=eyJlZmdfdGFnIjoiQ0FST1VTRUxfSVRFTS5iZXN0X2ltYWdlX3VybGdlbi5DMyJ9&_nc_ohc=emDHidi_tKMQ7kNvwEYRyZN&_nc_oc=Adop6HEQcbN9sLWiv7mgD_bJgnHBjXnLMX-ZkbxrqvcGOlWDfmmu_0gsdxwMOXPS9B0&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-iad6-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&_nc_gid=F3iuNQ2sS10cZ4b_L3iQ2w&_nc_tpa=Q5bMBQE5m7XaGH93hP_JanjU8PevxlBRmLrxeCH7rDlFXcagYbqjVvDzGjrEaPPueUxq-okB0zMwjmBf_Q&oh=00_Af9pf8Hdxvv71L-JNw83JE2F0UsbIcFbQhN5d92ruwkGuw&oe=6A259A6D)
Blue Collar Jazz 