Live Music in the Summer

Tuesday night I took to heart the advice I give all of my students at the end of the school year, and I went to hear some live music in an outdoor setting. Many towns in the north suburbs have a weekly summer concert series, and one of my favorites is at Independence Grove in Libertyville. It's a beautiful venue, especially as the sun sets over the lake just behind the stage. This week the performer was Fareed Haque and his trio.

Fareed was a classmate of mine at Northwestern. Since he was a guitar major and I was in music education, our paths didn't really cross, but I've enjoyed following his career. He's known as one of the preeminent guitarists in world music circles, combining influences from South Asia, Latin American, and classical music into a unique take on jazz and jazz fusion. His band Garaj Mahal released an album in 2010 called More Mr. Nice Guy that showcased his growing interest in electronica. If you like jazz fusion and/or prog rock, I highly recommend it.

For the show on Tuesday, he was joined by Alex Austin on bass and Greg Fundis on drum set and electronic percussion. Their setlist was stylistically diverse, including three jazz standards ("Manteca," "Doxy," and "Maiden Voyage"), a classical guitar solo ("Arabic Caprice"), and some of their electronic music. The latter was often built off of loops played and triggered by the drummer on a Roland Octapad. There were blistering guitar riffs, subterranean basslines, and Indian rhythmic solfege (ta-ka-di-mi). Quite a fun show!

Next week, I plan to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra play Gustav Holst's The Planets at Ravinia. It sounds like it will be a multimedia spectacular, complete with video screens and astronomy demos. Best of all, high school and college students get free lawn passes just by showing their IDs. Check out the details here. It's a show that you will really enjoy!