Immediate Sound Series Fourth Anniversary

With ambitious, highbrow bookings, the Hideout’s Immediate Sound Series has become a mainstay of the local jazz scene in just four years. For its anniversary, curator Mitch Cocanig has assembled a world-class program. Plucked largely from the North Side improv scene, many of the performers are essential to the Umbrella Music collective that powers this and several other jazz weeklies about town.

The weekend begins with a special “8tet” iteration of Mike Reed’s People, Places & Things. The prolific drummer and concert programmer’s newly released live album, Stories and Negotiations, captures his reverential combo at last year’s Chicago Jazz Festival, where it was joined by a trio of jazz journeymen. Here he welcomes back two—trumpeter Art Hoyle and trombonist Julian Priester—plus reedist Ari Brown, joining the already fierce front line of saxists Greg Ward and Tim Haldeman.

Like Reed, Josh Berman is a pillar of the Umbrella scene (together they curate the Emerging Improvisers Sundays at Hungry Brain). Last year, the savvy cornetist stepped out as a leader with his Delmark debut, Old Idea. Here he rivals Reed with an octet lineup of his other outfit, Josh Berman and His Gang.

Despite the worldwide impact of German jazz stalwart Peter Brötzmann and Chicago’s powerhouse drummer Hamid Drake, there’s precious little documenting it other than a 1995 landmark album, The Dried Rat-Dog. Fans can pick up another recording, a limited CD capturing the hard-hitting pair’s frenetic chemistry at a 2004 gig in Cleveland. More important, they can experience the real thing live as Drake’s drum patterns contrast the unhinged saxophonist’s honks and squawks. It’s a fitting shout-out to the cross-Atlantic conversation fueling this essential weekly.

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