This installment of Notes From The Jazz Underground features the playlist based on the December 20th show.Frank Zappa's birthday is December 21st. As is tradition, host Paul Abella goes for wall-to-wall Zappa...kinda.The set kicks off with some recordings from Frank himself (plus, I've substituted his version of "Hungry Freaks, Daddy" for the...

Words & Photos by @WeirScrewedFrank Zappa is one of the most polarizing musicians in the history of rock music. It's not uncommon to see, depending on what part of his songbook a critic is familiar with, to find points of view ranging from dismissive to reverential. It's true that tunes like "Valley Girl" or "Bobby Brown"...

This installment of Notes From The Jazz Underground features the playlist from September 27th, which marked Paul's 2nd anniversary doing the show. After launching the program Sunday afternoons against Paul Buckley's nationally renown jazz radio show, Abella was able to find his voice on Friday evenings.This week's playlist features a bit of everything that...

Welcome to the first installment of Notes From The Jazz Underground on The Barn Presents. Mr. Paul Abella wears many hats: percussionist, bandleader, music director at WDCB 90.9 FM in Glen Ellyn, and also host of a weekly show, the titular Notes From The Jazz Underground, a two hour Friday night radio program that occupies that...

Much attention has been given to a Chicago weekend that featured both UMBowl IV and an unpublicized fan-organized (Bill Graham for a day) Umphrey's show at Lincoln Hall on Saturday. But half of the band also appeared at a Thursday pre-party at Abbey Pub as a part of the fifth installment of the ongoing Full...

Every summer, interesting festivals overtake the music landscape in and around Chicago. While the festival calendar dries up after Labor Day, leave it to the area's best venues to make our holidays seem like mini-festivals of their own. And with Thanksgiving more of a homecoming style occasion, the program leans delightfully local.We've...

Any day with great music is like a holiday, but there are certain days on the calendar that make the live music experience even more celebratory. Even without music, the transformation that occurs in late autumn takes on a surreal, ominous tone, it's no wonder that ancient societies create myth and ritual that mirrored the...

The fourth edition of the Abbey Pub Full Court Press Jam series is back next week (October 5th to be exact, click HERE for a chance to win tickets) and with it comes all the great things we love about the previous all star jam sessions.a full complement of talent from the top bands...

Update (7/30): We have learned lineup of one of the bands at FCP3 (and it looks great): Kris Myers of Umphrey's McGee, Ray White of Frank Zappa, Jesse Clayton of MathGames, Bryan Doherty of Digital Tape Machine, Nicholas Gerlach of Cosby SweaterOne of the trademarks of the Abbey Pub's Full Court Press series, whose third edition...

Blotto fans braved strong storms and were rewarded for their loyalty with another unique experience last weekend at Elgin's Vasa Park.For their part, Mr. Blotto did not disappoint, turning in a set capped with a couple of Zappa tunes on Friday night, programming some of Chicago's finest jambands on to warm up the crowd...