Avreeayl Ra’s Dream Stuff is Avreeayl Ra (drums), Edward Wilkerson (reeds), Peter Maunu (strings), Jim Baker (keyboards), and Jason Roebke (bass).

Levi Dayan is an artist and music journalist who is interested in approaching the intersection of improvised music, electroacoustic music, and noise from a DIY perspective.

Worthlis is the improvising duo of laptop musician Derek Worthington and bassist and analog electronics performer Ben Willis.

Norman W. Long (electronics) and Bill Harris’ (drums) collaboration goes back to 2020.

Sharon Udoh and Kyle Gregory Price will be an anomalous tornado spiraling in and out, up and down, only to put all the houses back down gently via the caring hands of experience, hope, community and musical salvation. They will be joined by Lewis Achenbach painting live.

Percussionist Avreeayl Ra (he/him) and trombonist Jeb Bishop (he/him) will appear as the first duo configuration of Ra Bishop, a quartet (usually) anticipating a spring 2025 album release on the Amalgam label.

$15 / $10 w/ Student ID - Tickets Available at the Door

IMS welcomes a group featuring Jorrit Dijkstra accompanied by a quintet of Chicago improvisers along with trio set by Emily Biesel, Ro Lundberg, and Norman W. Long.

Hatcher/Giallorenzo/Kirshner is a collaborative trio that has worked in improvised music of a free jazz character and is now beginning to delve into its members’ interests in repertory work and original composition. Their set will include pieces by Frank Wright and Cecil Taylor as well as original work and improvisation. Following their set we are having a New Year’s Open Jam led by series curators Ben Zucker and Ishmael Ali! Bring your instrument to jam! We’ll break off into small ensembles / short sets so everyone can play a bit. All ‘jam’ participants are admitted $free$ to the event!

8:30 Hatcher/Giallorenzo/Kirshner Trio

9:30 New Year's Jam led by Ishmael Ali and Ben Zucker, bring your instrument!! All welcome!

The Improvised Music Series concludes 2024 with a pair of duos demonstrating the strength of the scene across generations.

Hugo Flores García (he/they) is a computer musician, improviser, programmer, and scientist whose creative practice spans improvised and composed music for guitars, sound objects and electronics, sound installations, bespoke digital musical instruments, and interactive art. He will perform solo. Teiku uses their Jewish-Ukrainian ancestors’ Passover songs as source material for expansive improvisation. The group weaves through an adventurous set that maintains its ritualistic origins while simultaneously venturing into the unknown.

Kiroff/Spuzzillo Duo (Cleveland) will perform a round robin of improvised, micro-tonal songs infused with free jazz and electronics on microtonally altered Wurlitzer and fretless bass. Jacob Little Cloud Fawcett (Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe) will be joined by fellow Chicago improvisors, Keefe Jackson and Ausberto Acevedo.

The Chicago Edge Ensemble features the compositions of Dan Phillips and the highly interactive and dynamic collective ensemble improvisations of Avreeayl Ra, Jeb Bishop, Josh Berman, and Krzysztof Pabian. The quintet will perform two sets at 8:30 and 9:30 pm.

$15 / $10 w/ Student ID - Tickets Available at the Door

Hanah Jon Taylor Quartet, including Kevin Carnes (percussion), Julian Reid (piano), and Emma Dayhuff (string bass), plays two sets.

Prodigal child Eli Namay returns with the 6th iteration of their sonic meditation for large ensemble, Sound Mass. Chicago turntable, cello, drums trio Hearsay performs a set.

Grace Papineau-Couture, aka Mountain Laurel, focuses on themes of drone and noise drawing on otherworldly and embodied experiences using the language of folk horror. Rami Gabriel and Karim Nagi (The Arab Blues) create an electro urban amalgam of Arab tradition and Chicago blues.

A night of three wide-ranging solo performances from distinct musicians from Chicago and Detroit.

Maria Elena Silva performs an intense, deconstructed interpretation of her latest work with Erez Dessel, Tyler Wagoner, and Scott Dean Taylor, and Bay-area saxophonist Phillip Greenlief and writer Claudia La Rocco unfurl their interdisciplinary project animals & giraffes with Chicago guests Tim Daisy and Kim Nucci.

This week’s Improvised Music Series features an all-star grouping of Chicago musicians, convened by drummer and composer Tommaso Moretti to flip the approach of his Inside Out project into electroacoustic abstractions. Opening the evening is Chicago-born, Bay Area experimental staple Andrew Jamieson, presenting solo piano deconstructions that are equal parts free jazz, gospel, and Ives-ian mashup.

This week’s Improvised Music Series welcomes a menagerie of musicians from Chicago and the Greater Midwest.

First time quartet of guitarist Seth Andrew Davis (Kansas CIty), violinist Alex Cunningham (St. Louis), bassist Andrew Scott Young (Chicago), and drummer Weasel Walter (Chicago) share the night with a duo of saxophonist Sarah Clausen (Chicago) and pianist Erez Dessel (Chicago).

Simone Baron (NYC) / Emily Rach Beisel (Chicago) duo, followed by a fresh new ensemble presented by The Bridge blending musicians from France and Chicago!

2 sets, starting at 8:30PM

$15/$10 w/ Student ID - Tickets Available at the Door

Two sets of musical exploration at its most intimate — solo and duo — with artists visiting and new to Chicago’s scene! Featuring Drew Wesley, solo guitar (NYC); and Caroline Jesalva and Aaron Kaufman-Leivine on violin and saxophone.

Two sets, starting at 8:30PM

$15/$10 w/ Student ID - Tickets Available at the Door

At this week’s Improvised Music Series there will be a trio from Christopher Riggs, Peter Maunu, and Braeden Rodriguez. Preceding the trio will be a duo from King Sophia and Chad Kouri.

The Improvised Music Series welcomes Labratio / Lee / Sowa / Willis plus Tyler Damon + Jacob Fawcett duo.

Janna Lee is a Chicago-based vocalist who uses her voice to explore various parts of herself, ranging from ghostly lounge singer to raging demon and everything in between. Her work is an intensely personal maelstrom of harsh noise and processed vocals. Labratio is an alto saxophonist, composer, and improvisor who draws on his love of skronky free jazz, no-wave energy, and Eastern European musical traditions. Erik Sowa is a drummer/percussionist/multi-instrumentalist, and Ben Willis plays bass, incorporating a language of motion into his practice.

They will be joined by double-percussion duo Tyler Damon + Jacob Fawcett. Jacob Little Cloud Fawcett (Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe) is a Chicago based drummer and composer who blends aspects of jazz and traditional Native American music in order to create original compositions that accurately reflect Indigenous culture and experience. Tyler Damon is a drummer, improviser and educator from the American Midwest. While tirelessly nurturing his solo voice, he has also been recognized internationally for collaborations past and present, appearing alongside several noted peers of the American underground including Dave Rempis, Tashi Dorji, Gerrit Hatcher, Joshua Abrams, Mars Williams, and Eli Winter, among many others. Both Fawcett and Damon were privileged to have studied with legendary drummer and educator Pete Magadini, whose influence has been a catalyst in the formation of their duo.