They play neighborhood saloons and downtown boites, chic little showrooms and cutting-edge clubs.
They perform for hours on end, reveling in the adulation of fans who pack the house and cheer their every song.
They may not make a fortune, and they certainly don’t command big-time record deals or mile-long contract riders. But, in a way, they’re the lifeblood of jazz in Chicago.
They’re the “regulars,” workaday musicians who play ongoing, regular gigs in the city, beyond the spotlight of the Jazz Showcase or the prestige of Symphony Center or the glamor of Park West.
On any night of the week, you can drop in on the regulars and hear a world-class artist for the price of a drink or two. No tickets, no reservations, no strings attached–just great music, an unpretentious ambience and the pleasure of hearing a performer communing with an audience that shows up week after week.
Chicago and its suburbs overflow with such attractions, some celebrated, some known only to neighborhood denizens. Because most of the artists periodically take a week or two off for touring, it’s worth phoning in advance to make sure they’re in town when you’re ready to swing by.
Here is a look at four of the best regulars, each a distinct and alluring voice.
VON FREEMAN
New Apartment Lounge
‘Round about 10:15 every Tuesday night, 83-year-old tenor saxophone legend Von Freeman pushes open the front door at the New Apartment Lounge, on East 75th Street.
Several fans already wait at the bar, and they begin schmoozing with the man before he has opened his instrument case. They update him on mutual friends, they ask him how he’s been, they buy him a small bottle of red wine.
On this night, the great “Vonski”–as he’s known around the world–is just another guy from the neighborhood, though he happens to rank among the planet’s most brilliant tenor saxophonists.
Freeman takes off his jacket, confers with the other members of his quartet. Then, sometime past 10:30 p.m., he picks up his horn and launches into the old standard, “It’s Magic,” its title summing up the tone of this late-night show. As Freeman plays, a steady stream of listeners pours in: neighborhood folks, students from the nearby University of Chicago, longtime Freeman friends.
Before the saxophonist has finished the tune, every seat at the curvy, turquoise bar has been taken, and listeners are standing around the periphery of the room.
“You’re lucky you didn’t come here last week,” drummer Michael Raynor says between sets.
“It was Von’s birthday and the place was so crowded you hardly could move. Plus so many people were coming up to Von, he hardly had time to play.”
On this evening, however, Freeman sounds as if he’s making up for lost time, cramming more music into every measure than most players his age–or any other–could do. Squalling high notes, barreling low ones, Charlie Parker-like runs, keening riffs that cry out poignantly–a lifetime of ideas issue from Freeman’s horn.
A few minutes later, he takes the tenor from his lips and says to the crowd: “Listen–this is dedicated to all the beautiful ladies in the house,” and the throng begins to laugh and cheer.
Then Freeman caresses a soft, extremely slow ballad, producing the velvety tones that made earlier-generation tenor masters such as Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster famous. Freeman grew up in their shadow and learned well from hearing them.
As for the listeners, they’re within touching distance of a bona fide jazz legend, able to hear his softest utterances as if he were playing in their living room. Moreover, they know that before this night is through, the evening will be brightened by young musicians vying for a chance to sit in with Vonski.
“This place is home,” says the tenor man.
Or at least it is every Tuesday night.
When: 10:30 p.m. Tuesdays.
Where: New Apartment Lounge, 504 E. 75th St.
Price: Free (no drink minimum); 773-483-7728
YOKO NOGE
HotHouse
Most working folks probably have gone to sleep as midnight approaches on a Monday evening, but the tempo is just starting to pick up at HotHouse in the South Loop.
Singer-pianist Yoko Noge seats herself at the ebony grand, places her fingers on the keys and begins to howl into the microphone, her music an exotic mixture of traditional American jazz, raunchy South Side blues and ancient Japanese folklore. She chants some phrases, recalling the music of her native Osaka; she bends notes freely, embracing the blues techniques of her adopted home, Chicago.
All the while, she accompanies herself with a rolling piano backbeat, her boogie-inspired rhythms picked up by the indispensable Chicago drummer Avreeayl Ra and the exuberant trombonist John Watson, among others in her Jazz Me Blues band. And though the Japanese lyrics may be lost on most members of a very diverse audience, it takes only a few beats for a large part of the crowd to get up to dance in classic swing style.
“For me, this is like church,” says Noge, “because the people who come out on a Monday night are people who really like music. I mean, they’re not weekenders, you know?
“Some of the people come week after week after week. It’s like a community. Even musicians come by to play.”
Indeed, on this evening, Soul Food Cafe–a swing band from Tokyo in town for the annual Asian American Jazz Festival–has dropped by, its members taking turns performing with Noge and her band. At one point, a member of Soul Food Cafe croons “Bei Mir Bist du Schoen,” giving Chicagoans the unusual opportunity to hear a Japanese vocalist performing Yiddish lyrics to an aggressive jazz beat.
“Something like this only could happen on a Monday night in HotHouse,” says Noge.
When: 8:30 p.m. Mondays (non-smoking show; currently on tour, Noge returns Nov. 21).
Where: HotHouse, 31 E. Balbo Drive
Price: $12; 312-362-9707
JUDY ROBERTS
The Salon at Hotel Intercontinental
Five minutes before her next set, the woman who reigns at the Salon in the InterContinental Hotel looks like one of its patrons.
She’s sitting with customers, laughing, talking, sipping a beverage.
Then she finally pulls herself away, slowly walks to the grand piano–conversing with fans every step of the way–before swinging into “Come Fly With Me,” her lithe soprano accompanied by her breezy pianism and the soft, Stan Getz-like whispers of tenor saxophonist Greg Fishman, her husband.
When Roberts sings, “In llama land, there’s a one-man band, and he’ll toot his flute for you,” Fishman whips out his little flute and toots freely.
“How do you like that for great entertainment?” Roberts tells the crowd, and everyone applauds.
Of all the “regular” gigs in Chicago, Roberts’ may be the most easygoing, the most intimate, the most relaxed.
“Now it’s time for requests,” she tells the crowd, “but you know my rules: No Andrew Lloyd Webber, no Neil Diamond.”
Instead, Roberts sings first-class material: the Frank Sinatra songbook, the Dave Frishberg gems, the Gershwin masterpieces.
The crowd proves sophisticated, asking for numbers such as Dizzy Gillespie’s “Salt Peanuts,” which Roberts and Fishman toss off–at a moment’s notice–with ease.
“There’s something about this room, the way it feels, that people seem to appreciate,” says Fishman, between sets.
He’s right, but it’s not just the cushy chairs, the glittering view of Michigan Avenue or the ever-flowing drinks.
It’s the chance to hear one of the city’s most engaging duos–a superior singer-pianist and a top-flight saxophonist–erasing the line between art and entertainment.
When: Roberts solo, starting at 8 p.m. Thursdays; Roberts/Fishman duo, starting at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays (Roberts and Fishman will be out of town Oct. 29 to Nov. 6).
Where: The Salon at Hotel InterContinental, 505 N. Michigan Ave.
Price: Free (no drink minimum); 312-944-4100
BUDDY CHARLES
Chambers
The king has returned.
Though he retired in 1999 after more than half a century of entertaining Chicagoans from behind the keys, singer-pianist Buddy Charles recently reclaimed his throne.
But this time, instead of playing a tiny upright piano in the cramped Coq d’Or Room of the Drake Hotel, where he performed throughout the 1990s, he has ensconced himself at the grand piano in the spacious dining room at Chambers, in Niles.
Many of his longtime followers have trekked north to hear him, but a new audience has discovered him as well.
On any given Tuesday, Charles dips into a seemingly bottomless repertoire of show tunes and pop standards, jazz classics and beguiling novelties. If there’s a song that Charles does not know, it probably does not merit hearing.
As a singer, Charles combines the ebullience of Fats Waller with his own sometimes-manic, sometimes-sage interpretations of the classic American songbook. As jazz pianist, he gets around the keys with an elegance and nonchalant virtuosity that many more celebrated soloists would be hard-pressed to match.
Better still, at Chambers, listeners actually can hear him.
“At the Drake, it was like a machine shop–they were blowing cigar smoke and talking business, they’re watching the basketball or hockey games,” says Charles.
Chambers, by contrast, “allows you any kind of feeling you want,” adds Charles.
“It’s a quietly reserved room at first. Then someone will come over and say, `Do you know this song?’
“And then you lead them into a particular composer or a feeling or a mood.
“Sometimes musicians come in and you start cooking. And then you get into your comedy stuff.
“You can do it all here.”
Or at least Charles can.
“We’re real proud of having him,” says Chambers owner Joe Maranto. “He classes up the place.”
When: 7 p.m. Tuesdays
Where: Chambers, 6881 N. Milwaukee Ave., Niles
Price: Free (two-drink minimum); 847-647-8282
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hreich@tribune.com
