This Thursday the Improvised Music Series welcomes a group featuring saxophonist and composer Jorrit Dijkstra accompanied by a quintet of Chicago improvisers. They will combine to celebrate the jazz tradition in spirit and sound while crossing stylistic and cultural borders in order to express a strong, evolving vision. Beginning the night we will have a trio set by Emily Biesel, Ro Lundberg, and Norman W. Long weaving together their distinct sounds on bass clarinet, bass, and electronics.
8:30 pm:
Emily Beisel - clarinet
Ro Lundberg - double bass
Norman Long - electronics
9:30 pm:
Jorrit Dijkstra - saxophone
Jeb Bishop - trombone
Beth MacDonald - tuba
Ishmael Ali - cello
Michael Zerang - drumset
TONIGHT! Come celebrate 5 years of the CLEAT SERIES! We’ll have a special A/V performance from ‘trace/play’ and heavy electronics set from Jason Soliday. 8pm!
Tonight! Excellent trio opening the night, then an open jam for all musicians/artists looking to improvise! Bring your instrument, body, voice and join in. All open jam participants get complimentary entry to the show. We’ll see you at 8:30PM!
Are you an Elastic Arts Member yet?! We’ve launched a brand new membership program where you can join for as little as $15 with special perks at all levels! Every member will be given a *frequency card* that gets you into every 5th show free, just show your card at the door! There’s a brand new members-only T-shirt designed by Carol Genetti for Stretch + Champion levels and special Members-Only events all year long! Be part of building the Elastic energy bigger than it’s ever been before. Let’s make this a huge 2025! Link in bio!
It has now been 5 years since the CLEAT multi-channel speaker system was installed in Elastic Arts. The CLEAT has proven to be one of the most versatile, exciting, accessible, and fully experimental instruments we have for our artist community to engage. Huge thanks to Stephan Moore, Sam Clapp, and Matt Test for holding down this series for 5 beautiful years (with a short break, of course). We hope the system continues to be the most accessible spatial audio system in the world.
To celebrate 5 years, we have a very special January CLEAT Series planned. trace/play is a collaboration between interdisciplinary performance artist Chrissy Martin and interactive artist Owen Lowery. The work offers multi-sensory experiences for audiences through live processing with AI body tracking, sonification, and generative visualization, all imbued with a sense of curiosity and serious play. Chrissy and Owen play with the traces of change through the collaborative manipulation of physical performance and multiple tech elements. The audience is invited to contemplate, experiment, and move through the space, creating a collective artwork that is printed as a poster they take home at the end of the show. We can’t wait to see how this work translates on the CLEAT in our space.
The very first CLEAT Series show featured the legendary Chicago sound artist and organizer Jason Soliday. It seems appropriate to welcome him back after 5 years as part of the celebration, and we can’t wait to hear what he has up his sleeves! Jason will be using eurorack modular and computer synthesis to tickle the speakers with incredibly dynamic sounds.
Don’t miss this one! Five more years!!
THIS WEEK AT ELASTIC ARTS!
THURSDAY JANUARY 9 | 8:30 PM
Improvised Music Series: Hatcher / Giallorenzo / Kirshner, New Year’s Open Jam
FRIDAY JANUARY 10 | 8:00 PM
CLEAT Series: trace/play, Jason Soliday
SUNDAY JANUARY 12 | 7:00 PM
Composing the Climate - Performed and Produced by Cacie Miller + Missing Piece
The first Improvised Music Series of the year is Thursday Jan 9th where we’ll feature the Hatcher/Giallorenzo/Kirshner trio and then an open improv jam for all interested musicians/artists! Bring your body, your instrument, your voice, and let’s jam!
The Hatcher/Giallorenzo/Kirshner trio 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’ll have the New Year’s Open Jam led by series curators Ben Zucker and Ishmael Ali. We’ll break off into small ensembles / short sets so everyone can play a bit. All ‘jam’ participants are admitted $free$ to the event! Let’s kick off this Improv Series year correct! See you Thursday!
8:30 Hatcher/Giallorenzo/Kirshner Trio
9:30 New Year’s Jam led by Ishmael Ali and Ben Zucker, bring your instrument!! All welcome!
This week at Elastic Arts! Join us tonight for the final event of 2024, an immersive spatial audio dance party brought to us by the Excursions team! Then the first event of 2025 is this Saturday with an incredibly special evening featuring Ensemble Dal Niente and Macie Stewart. We’ll see you very soon!
Tickets moving fast for the two DKV Trio shows this Friday and Saturday! Come join us in this wonderful year end tradition with one of the most classic Chicago ensembles ft. Ken Vandermark, Kent Kessler, and Hamid Drake! Friday 12/27 + Saturday 12/28 - 8:30PM both nights. Ticket link in bio!
Tonight’s the night! Join us for our annual Elastic Arts Holiday Party! We’ll have some light bites, some drinks (including beers from Illuminated Brew Works), and a solo set from 2024 Dark Matter Resident Amyna Love. This event is free for members, but you can sign up at the door! We’re launching a brand new membership program where you can join for as little as $15 with special perks at all levels! Every member will be given a *frequency card* that gets you into every 5th show free! There’s a brand new members-only T-shirt designed by Carol Genetti too! Come on over here tonight and join in some holiday cheer, celebrate the wonderful year of programming at Elastic, and become an Elastic Arts Member today! Meet us here at 7PM!
This week at Elastic Arts! Join us for our Holiday Party on Wednesday and our final Improvised Music Series of the year on Thursday. See you soon!
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 18 | 7:00PM
Elastic Arts Holiday Party w/ Amyna Love! Free for members, or sign up to be a member at the door!
THURSDAY DECEMBER 19 | 8:30 PM
Improvised Music Series: Jesalva/Kleijn, Dessel/Ra
Elastic Arts is so excited to welcome back the legendary collaborative ensemble DKV Trio for their longstanding holiday concert that they’ve done in Chicago for many years. This fantastic pairing of journeymen Chicago improvisers, Hamid Drake, Kent Kessler, and Ken Vandermark, found its roots in the mid-1990’s and has worked actively since that time. Join us for one or both of this two night run December 27th and 28th! Discounted two-day tickets available, link in bio!
Ken Vandermark - reeds
Kent Kessler - bass
Hamid Drake - drums
7:45 PM DOORS / 8:30 PM CONCERT