In Chicago? Check out the Green Mill

If you are visiting Chicago, you've got to make a trip up Broadway to Lawrence Ave. (4800 North) and catch the jazz at the Green Mill.

 

When I first moved to Chicago in 1987, we used to make it a habit of going up late on Friday nites and sitting in for the jam session that starts at 1:30 AM.  Barry Winograd still leads that session after all these years.  The schedule at the Green Mill is pretty locked in with the same groups usually taking a spot during the week.  Trumpeter Brad Goode and his quintet had every Wednesday for 13 years until Brad took a teaching gig at the Cleveland Conservatory. 

 

On the weekends they will bring in top jazz artists such as Dave Liebman and other similar quality players.  Unlike the Jazz Showcase where covers and drink minimums can cost you an arm and a leg for an evening, the Green Mill cover charges are usually less than 10 bucks for top artists and I don't believe there is a drink minimum for those, at least as I remember. The neighborhood is still a little funky, so watch yourself and don't wander too far from the club at night.

 

If you are in Chicago, be sure to pick up a Chicago Reader (its free and you can pick it up all over town) and check the music section for the current lineup for the Green Mill and other good jazz clubs.

 

Here is a good article from the Chicago Tribune for more in depth information on the Green Mill.

 

More information on the Green Mill is below.

 

Green Mill on Centerstage Chicago - Green Mill : 4802 N. Broadway ...
Green Mill on Centerstage, Publisher of Honest Info By Chicago, For Chicago -
This Web Site is All About Chicago. 4802 N. Broadway, Chicago, (773) 878-5552, ...
centerstage.net/music/clubs/green-mill.html - 35k - Sep 8, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages

Music Event Listings on Centerstage Chicago
Green Mill. View Map 4802 N. Broadway, Chicago Tel: (773) 878-5552, View Website ·
Green Mill Details · Green Mill Patron Reviews ...
centerstage.net/events/ music/view.cfm?venue=Green%20Mill - 23k - Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from centerstage.net ]

Green Mill Cocktail Lounge Review by Sean Parnell
The Green Mill was also a favorite for the most infamous of Chicago mobsters, Al
Capone. ... The Green Mill is a living piece of Chicago history. ...
www.seanparnell.com/Bar%20Reviews/ GreenMill/GreenMill.htm - 26k - Cached - Similar pages

Chicago's Uptown Poetry Slam Schedule: Green Mill
Weekly listing of features, special guests and national poetry slam tournament
information for Chicago Green Mill team.
www.slampapi.com/new_site/mill.htm - 18k - Cached - Similar pages

Green Mill, Chicago, IL - Yahoo! Travel
Green Mill, Chicago, IL: Find photos, descriptions, maps, and expert advice on
things to do in Chicago, IL on Yahoo! Travel.
travel.yahoo.com/ p-travelguide-2824519-green_mill_chicago-i - 38k - Cached - Similar pages

Green Mill Cocktail Lounge - Chicago, IL, 60640-3622 - Citysearch
Come to Citysearch to get information, directions, and reviews on Green Mill
Cocktail Lounge and other Bar/Clubs in Chicago.
chicago.citysearch.com/profile/3717659 - 75k - Cached - Similar pages

Green Mill - Chicago - Reviews of Green Mill - TripAdvisor
Green Mill: Visit TripAdvisor, your source for the web's best unbiased reviews
and articles about Green Mill in Chicago, Illinois.
chicago-hotels.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_ Review-g35805-d103242-Reviews-Green_Mill-Chicago_Illinois.html - 58k - Cached - Similar pages

Jazz Age Chicago -- Green Mill Gardens
Explore the history of Chicago's popular amusements, business districts, and more
from the 1920s and 1930s.
chicago.urban-history.org/sites/ballroom/grn_mill.htm - 7k - Cached - Similar pages

Official Ticketmaster site. Green Mill Chicago, IL tickets ...
Find and buy Green Mill Chicago, IL tickets at Ticketmaster.com.
www.ticketmaster.com/venue/32992 - 28k - Cached - Similar pages

The Green Mill in Chicago - Metromix
Chicago Ht... - Crestwood, - Crete, - Darien, - Frankfort, - Gary (Ind.. ...
The Green Mill upcoming events:. Uptown Poetry Slam with Marc Smith Open End ...
metromix.chicagotribune.com/ music/31316,0,7725815,events.location - 47k - Sep 8, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages

Michael Brecker needs your help

In case you haven't heard, information on Michael Brecker from his wife.....

FROM: Susan Brecker
SUBJECT: Michael Brecker needs your help.

Dear Family and Friends,

My husband, Michael Brecker, has been diagnosed with MDS (myelodysplastic syndrome), and it's critical that he has a marrow or blood stem cell transplant---which has nothing to do with the polarizing issue of embryonic stem cells. The initial search for a donor, including Michael's siblings and children, has not resulted in a suitable match. We now hope to have as many people tested as possible that share a similar genetic background as my husband.  There are some important points to understand concerning this process:

1. The screening involves only a blood test. It can be done very easily at a donor center of the National Marrow Donor Program. The blood test identifies your HLA tissue type. The cost for the test is generally $40 to $95 depending on the donor center and the laboratory that completes the test. After this initial testing, all medical expenses are paid for by the patient or the patient's insurance.  Go to www.marrow.org or call 1-800-MARROW-2 to find the donor center nearest you. In NYC, call Frazier at the NY Blood Bank [212-570-3441 / 310 East 67th Street] to make an appointment.  The test is $40. If it's difficult to make it to a blood center, private kits are available from Tepnel Life Codes [800-915-3695]. Order the "HLA [A][B][DR]" kit for $140. You will need to have a small vial of blood drawn. Indicate to Tepnel that your test is for "Michael Brecker" and they will know to whom to forward your results.
 
2.  As a volunteer donor, you are never legally obligated to donate. Individual decisions are always respected. However, a late decision not to donate can be life-threatening to a patient and among the most disheartening news a family can ever receive. Therefore, please carefully consider your decision to be a donor.

3. Should you be selected as a potential donor for Michael or any other patient, please understand that there have been tremendous advances in "bone marrow transplants" and the term itself can be misleading. At major cancer centers, blood stem cells can in nearly all instances be harvested directly from your blood.  A donor is simply connected to a machine that separates the blood stem cells before the donor's blood reenters his/her system. On occasion, stem cells may have to be harvested directly from your bone marrow. All the necessary precautions are taken to ensure the safety and well-being of the donor. A number of personal health questions are asked when individuals join the National Marrow Donor Program Registry to be sure they are in general good health.  In the event you're asked to donate marrow or blood cells, a volunteer will first receive a thorough physical examination-at no cost to him or herself.

4. A match for Michael would be most likely come from those of Eastern European Jewish descent. If you or anyone you know are in this category please make a special effort to immediately get tested. Ultimately, you would be doing something not just for Michael, but for so many more who are in a similar situation as my husband.

5. You are now part of our internet-based drive for donor testing.  If everyone who receives email can motivate a bunch of their friends to get tested, and those friends then forward this email to get their friends to get tested, we will have rapidly expanded the pool of potential donors. I urge all of you to get tested AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Finally, any local National Marrow Donor Program donor center can assist in organizing a drive for Michael, although it would be desirable if you can get a large group, e.g. a synagogue, to sponsor it. The "Gift of Life," an organization whose mission is to increase the representation of the Jewish people in the bone marrow donor pool, will test you for free when part of a donor drive organized through "Gift of Life."  Call 561.988.0100 [ http://www.giftoflife.org] for further information. There exist other organizations that have a similar mission for African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, etc.  Whatever your roots, please get tested to assist others!
 
Should you have any questions about any of this, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Michael's management office at 212.302.9200 or info@michaelbrecker.com   

Thank you so much for your love and support. We are so grateful.  
 
 
Susan  ox

Click here for more information

Harry Connick Jr. Tune Proceeds to Go to Katrina Fund - READ!

I've gotten a bunch of lead sheets off of this site lately.  It's great site and one that provides me with leadsheets to tunes that I would not have found otherwise.  Just got this email with the offer below.  I don't know the Harry Connick Jr. tune, but you can usually view the first page to check it out, and it is certainly going to a good cause.  Just thought I would pass this one to everyone.....

Donate to Hurricane Relief Rebuilding with Musicnotes and Harry Connick Jr.

Musicnotes.com, together with Harry Connick Jr. encourages you to help in the rebuilding of homes for those affected by Hurricane Katrina.

To help in the rebuilding effort, Musicnotes has an exclusive sheet music arrangement of Harry Connick Jr.'s song "City Beneath the Sea" available for purchase and download.

The song, written in 1996 as a tribute to his beloved city of birth, was specifically selected to be used in this Hurricane relief effort by Harry Connick Jr.

100% of proceeds from the sale of this sheet music will go to Habitat for Humanity, New Orleans Division.

Click here to buy sheet music for Harry Connick Jr.'s "City Beneath the Sea" and help those affected by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

Harry Connick Jr. has accepted the role of honorary chair of Habitat for Humanity's "Operation Home Delivery," a long-term rebuilding plan for the hurricane-damaged Gulf Coast. He has been an active promoter of the charity for years.

Essential Buying Tips for Building a Jazz Collection

 

Reprinted with permission. Copyright (c) 2005  AllAboutJazz.com and Gerard Cox

 

O.K., so you're trying to build up a nice little jazz recording library for yourself and you want to be able to do it without breaking the bank or facing dirty looks from your spouse for blowing the vacation budget on the latest round of CDs. Well, this writer has been there and done that (including the dirty looks), so I'd like to share what I learned about how to collect jazz recordings in the most economical and resourceful way. Because while jazz CDs seem readily available at some of the major retail record stores, it's easy to waste money and end up with a smaller, more limited amount of sounds by relying simply on this most direct and obvious route to acquiring jazz recordings.

Here's a few essential tips then for building your collection on a budget, or listening, as it were-on the lamb.

1. First off, check out music before you buy it whenever possible. You may have buddies or girlfriends that can hip you to stuff, there are MP3s and sound samples galore all over the net, and there's listening stations at place like Borders and Virgin megastore. But also (main TIP.), don't discount the jazz cd and LP selections in our public libraries, as well as college libraries. These are a very undersung resource for jazz fans trying to check out new artists. Now, public libraries in large Metropolitan areas are going to tend to have significantly larger catalogs for jazz than other areas, and colleges that have an active jazz studies program will typically have better jazz catalogs than those that don't. But, if you've never really checked out public libraries for what they have in the way of jazz, chances are you should be surprised by what's there unless that is, you live in Palookaville. True enough, the writer has actually discovered many relatively obscure artists through the service of the public library (I knew those tax dollars were good for something!). And sure, you may have to wade through some smooth jazz and some other crap, but there's usually some good stuff in there. NOTE: Libraries are where a lot of out-of-print CDs, e.g. Blue Notes from the first Connoisseur series, or Blue Notes from the 80s for that matter, may be heard. Of course it goes without saying that while using libraries is theoretically free, there can be some mean, ugly fines if you don't get those puppies in on time. At which point it's hardly a bargain anymore. So find out what the fines are first if you have trouble getting stuff back on time, like I obviously do.

2. Get in the habit of “haunting” your local used stores. If you live in a college town or a major city, there's more than likely going to be some jazz residing on the shelves of these joints. Even the more corporate used stores like “CD Warehouse” often have some interesting things. But if you're building a record collection on a budget, there's no more economical way to do so than skimming these stores for the best they've got. We're talking 5, 6, 7, 8 dollars a disc and in some cases even less. Some used stores don't necessarily carry only used stuff in their bins either- music critics regularly “dump” review copies of new release jazz CDs in local stores. There's a legend here in fact a guy who comes down from Cleveland and sells around 30 new, promo copies of jazz CDs each time. He comes out with some dough, and the local jazz junkies then reap the dividends of 7 to 9 dollar new releases. Of course there are only so many of these “dumped” promo copies, which is better for the artist in any event.

3. Keep your eyes open for sales. This goes without saying, but I'll go on record of saying that several major retailers have good sales on jazz each year, and at different points in the year too. Borders Books & Music has sales on Blue Notes and Prestige/OJC records typically three times a year. Right now in fact they have a sale on “classic jazz” records- at $8.99 for Ben Webster's Swingsville, you can't beat it. Tower Records at the time this was written also had a hip sale on the Blue Note series of 1995 that has since gone out of print- including McCoy Tyner Time for Tyner, Stanley T's Joyride, etc. And the Jazz Record Mart in Chicago, which has a monthly mailorder newsletter (Rhythm and News) is good for liquidation and closeout sales on jazz CDs they had overstocked for their store. No crap or filler either- some good stuff there. So go to their website and sign up for the newsletter. It's something every jazz collector should be getting in his mailbox.

4. In line with the general second-hand track, consider joining a Jazz trading group online. These are informal communities where people trade CDs and LPs and there is the possibility for “one person's junk” to become “another person's treasure. The best such Trading group available is called the Jazz Trading Post. You can find some choice stuff on these lists, but be prepared to have something decent to trade also. The people here aren't chumps and don't want a copy of Greg Osby's 3D Lifestyles any more than you do.

5. Like the guy in the commercial says: “Never, never, never pay full price.” What I mean is, just be aware how easy it is to get ripped off on buying new CDs. If you're going to buy a new jazz cd, there's only a few places, online AND physical stores, where you're going to get some semblance of value for money. For online stores, Tower and DustyGroove have decent prices. For physical stores, Media Play is okay price-wise, and Tower is as well. Borders and Barnes and Noble are generally outlandish- charging 18 dollars on discs Tower might charge 14 or 15 for. Indeed, their sales are an anachronism to their overall pricing scheme. Ditto Virgin Mega Store.

6. Finally, as an exception to the rule against “buying high”, if you go to a show and the artist/band has CDs for sale, buy from them even if it's a little expensive. Why? Because the artist will see the dividends right away, whereas when sold through retailers, the artist has to wait for a royalties statement to come through, which in Jazz are infamous for being paltry after all of the various excises imposed upon the retail product. Buy direct then and so enable artists trying to sell their music independently; you can support their music and help their bottom line in the process.

Cool? Well, I hope this helps. Collecting for around ten years, it's advice that I've earned in some ways through resourcefulness, and in some ways through simply having to learn the hard way. Take all of my advice here and avoid any hard lessons. The writer has bought far too many discs not having first heard them only to be rudely disappointed and out of 15 bucks that could have bought something worthwhile.

Good luck in trying to build a hip little jazz collection. As you will find or may already know, the process is enjoyable in itself. Take it from here, anything to help a young cat (or just your average aging cheapskate) get some good sounds in his head.

For more suggestions, visit our Building a Jazz Library home page.

Cheap Jazz Posters on Ebay

Ebay is great. I probably spend way too much time there looking for interesting jazz stuff, cds, charts, etc.  I put the pages on the site that list the jazz cds from various big bands and the current big band chart listings to make it quick and easy for me to find any new stuff that is listed.  I've picked up some pretty very good jazz cds, some as low as 1 cent.

Anyway, I stumbled across some pretty decent jazz posters this morning as well.  Below are the current listings for "jazz posters" on Ebay.  I would imagine these listings repeat themselves, but the listings below are in real time and change frequently.  If you are new to Ebay, register for free here.

New Orleans Jazz Musicians in Chicago

The Chicago jazz festival was held this last weekend in Grant Park. It seems some of New Orleans finest jazz musicians are making the trek up the Mississippi river and finding shelter in Chicago.  Alternatively, some guys that have played the festival year after year had to cancel this year after losing pretty much everything they own.   Read the whole article from the Chicago Tribune here.