Dear Friends of the Velvet:
Below is the April schedule with the following special announcements:
¨ The AACM Great Black Music Ensemble under the directionof Mwata Bowden continues their concert series on the first two Sundays of every month (April 6th & 13th from 6-8pm). We never know exactly who will be there, but it always features at least 12-15 musicians from among the best of the AACM including Dee Alexander, Ann Ward, Nicole Mitchell, Ed House, Edwin Daugherty, Isaiah Jackson, Art "Turk" Burton, Ed Wilkerson, Ernest Dawkins, Douglas Ewart, Tomeka Reid, Rollo Radford, Dushun Mosley, Sura Ramses, Taalib-Din Ziyad, Salik Ziyad, Dawi Williams, Lester Lashley, Soji Adebayo, and many others. And of course this is always followed at 9:30pm by our world famous Sunday Jam Session, hosted by Isaiah Spencer, all musicians are welcome to bring your axe and jam!
¨ Our new Monday Masters Series continues at 8pm with a wonderful April Lineup:
o 7th-Edwin Daugherty (sax) with Rodney Gipson, Dawi Williams, Michael Avery
o 14th-Famoudou Don Moye Sun Percussion Summit with special guest Billy Brimfield, plus Koco Brunson, Herb Walker, Joe Thomas, Enoch Williamson, Clifton Robinson, Babu Atiba, and Chicago Beau
o 21st-Corey Wilkes Quintet
o 28th-Hannah Jon Taylor Artet.
¨ See below the calendar for a press release on a special FREE event at the ChicagoCulturalCenter on Tuesday April 15, at 4:15pm featuring discussion and performance by George Lewis, Nicole Mitchell, and Douglas Ewart
¨ Please always feel free to contact me with any requests, suggestions, ideas, complaints, etc. We are always striving to make your Velvet Lounge experience as rewarding as possible so let me hear from you about what you like, what you would like, or what you don't like, so we can continue to improve. And remember, if we don't all make a conscious effort to support the Velvet, it may not be there for us for us forever. This is not a guilt trip, but the hard reality of trying to run a tough business in a fast paced world.
