Joshua Abrams has long been key to Chicago creative music, easily crossing whatever boundaries remain between, for instance, scenes that fomented Tortoise’s post-rock or the late Fred Anderson’s formally demanding free jazz. His Natural Information Society groups, featuring Abrams on guimbri (three-string bass lute) and bass, sound predicated on the dissolution of stylistic boundaries; this eight-piece version plays unfolding and layered trance-inducing rhythms and melds, among others, Western minimalism and free jazz expressiveness. To feed the latter, this Society includes the wonderful tenor saxophonist Ari Brown as a featured soloist, plus Lisa Alvarado (harmonium), Mikel Patrick Avery (drums), Josh Berman (cornet), Ben Lamar Gay (cornet), Nick Mazzarella (alto saxophone), Jason Stein (bass clarinet), and Mai Sugimoto (flute, alto saxophone)
Friday 16 September, 8pm, Royal City Mission, $25/$20 [buy tickets]
Saturday 17 September, 9:30pm, Market Square, Free
Natural Information Society website
Photo by Mikel Patrick Avery