Apr 14, 2014
This installment of Notes From The Jazz Underground features the playlist based on the January 31st show.This was the show broadcast the day after found Umphrey's McGee drummer Mike Mirro had passed so NFTJU host Paul Abella built the playlist around some UM material.First featuring Mirro, "Nothing Too Fancy" from Local Band Does...
Feb 6, 2014
Last summer, Paul Abella reached out to me about writing up some notes for his band's upcoming release A Change In Plans. As it turned out, the band decided to go in another direction, holding off my liner notes debut indefinitely, but only after I had written up my summary. Since Paul had been an...
May 13, 2013
We had a ball at last year's Whippersnap Festival, a fine mid-summer destination which married great regional talent with an emphasis on improv with some top notch national headliners. The festival is back in 2013, though moving closer to Chicago, at HideAway Lakes campground in Yorkville, IL. The lineup was released over the weekend on their...
Oct 23, 2012
Halloween is on a Wednesday this year, and apparently that means six full days of Halloween musical goodness in Chicago. While the bulk of the "costume" shows will take place on the prior weekend and, of course Halloween night itself, there's even a few heavy-hitting shows in the "days between" that serious music fans have...
Jul 8, 2011
Who says a jazz band can't play rock music? Certainly not Paul Abella, who brings his Trio (which of course has four members), to Brookfield's Salt Creek Wine Bar tonight (Friday, July 8th).It looks like a jazz band... It sounds like a jazz band... Abella's polyrhythmic Latin-infused percussion, the fat hollowbody sound of Mitch...