I’ll say it: winter is my favorite season for jazz in Chicago. Summer may be busier and splashier, but there’s nothing quite like nestling into a darkened club, cheeks flushed from the cold, for a singular and inventive night of music. It does more than thaw frozen fingers: It exhilarates, inspires and inflames, in the best way.
Everywhere from concert halls to holes-in-the-wall, these 13 shows will be portals to a happier clime in the coming weeks. And if you’re still hankering for more, keep your eyes on your favorite clubs: Many have yet to announce their late winter lineups.
Our picks:
Berman on the Brainstage
Cornetist and curator Josh Berman looks like he’s time-traveled from a different era: sweaters, collared shirts, horn-rimmed glasses, dress shoes. But his music is bracingly current: On most nights, you’ll find him in various free-improv configurations around the city. This month, his many projects converge via a residency at the Hungry Brain, where he used to curate the Sunday series.
9 p.m. Thursdays through Jan. 29 at the Hungry Brain, 2319 W. Belmont Ave.; $21 advance online, $15 door; hungrybrainchicago.com
New year, new album
Stalwart trumpeter and educator Pharez Whitted settles in at the Showcase to celebrate “The Lindy Bop,” a new release with old friends. One of them, tenorist Eddie Bayard, joins him for this weekend run of performances, as does pianist Isaiah Jones Jr., bassist Daniel Ellis Perez and drummer Xazavian Valladay.
Pharez Whitted Quintet, Jan. 22-25 at the Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Court; $25 general admission Jan. 22, $30 Jan. 23-25; jazzshowcase.com
In case you missed it
Singer Dee Dee Bridgewater and guitarist Bill Charlap toured together last year, but the second of two local appearances — with Charlap’s trio at Symphony Center last March, and at City Winery in October — had to be rescheduled. The all-star duo makes good on the lost booking later this month.
Two sets at 5 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Jan. 17, City Winery Chicago, 1200 W. Randolph St.; tickets $66-$90; tickets.citywinery.com
Of music and memory
Vocalist Julia Keefe’s CV looks a lot like that of other high-flying jazz musicians — she’s passed through prestigious music programs and shared stages with Tony Bennett and Esperanza Spalding. But her childhood on the Nez Perce (Nimíipuu) reservation in Idaho inspired her to seek out fellow Native American jazz musicians all the while. Today, she fronts a big band’s worth; Keefe appears with the University of Chicago with a group taken from its ranks.
Julia Keefe Indigenous Jazz Ensemble, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 30 at the Logan Center for the Arts Performance Hall; $43 general admission, $22 patrons under 35, $12 students; chicagopresents.uchicago.edu
A smoldering debut
Ishmael Ali has already turned heads in hard-driving experimental ensembles. But Ali’s assured, fiercely original solo-and-bandleader debut, “Burn the Plastic, Sell the Copper,” is doubtlessly an arrival for the cellist and composer, and one of 2026’s best local releases so far. He leads a record release show a week before the album drops on Amalgam Music, the label he co-runs with bandmate Bill Harris.
8:30 p.m. Feb. 6 at Constellation, 3111 N. Western Ave.; tickets $15; constellation-chicago.com
Orchestra Hall homages
Winter at Symphony Center starts and ends with two tributes. Singer José James and Chicago’s own Lizz Wright mark the 50th anniversary of Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You,” then pianists Gonzalo Rubalcaba and John Beasley join the centennial chorus for Miles Davis, who would have been 100 in May. Between them is a globetrotting double bill of U.K. saxophone sensation Nubya Garcia and the Illinois-born, Africa-oriented vocalist Somi, curated by Hyde Park Jazz Festival director Kate Dumbleton.
“José James with Lizz Wright: Marvin Gaye’s I Want You,” 8 p.m. Feb. 6, tickets $49-$199; Nubya Garcia and Somi, 8 p.m. March 13, tickets $39-$199; “Miles Davis at 100: Gonzalo Rubalcaba / Unlimited Miles,” 8 p.m. March 27, tickets $49-$199. All at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave.; cso.org
Remembering 1968
Chicago Jazz Philharmonic director Orbert Davis brings a historian’s touch to his multi-hour epics for the ensemble. This one — on the local legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — is no exception. “When the West Side Burned” transports audiences to the day King was assassinated and the destructive aftermath in the concert’s backyard. Haven’t been to a CJP concert before? The price is certainly right: Both days of programming will set you back just three bucks.
Open rehearsal and talkback 10:30 a.m. Feb. 6, tickets start at $1; documentary showing, panel and concert 4 p.m. Feb. 7, tickets start at $2; both at the Kehrein Center for the Arts, 5628 W. Washington Blvd.; chijazzphil.org
Listening to Du Bois
Like Davis, the multihyphenate Angel Bat Dawid, a recent Chicagoan of the Year in Jazz, often sources a playbook for the future through great thinkers of the past. Dawid embraces W.E.B. Du Bois in her 14-movement “Souls of Black Folk Suite,” premiered by her Great Blk Music Infinity Ensemble and string musicians from D-Composed.
“Mix at Six: The Souls of Black Folk Suite,” 6 p.m. Feb. 10 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph St.; tickets $23; harristheaterchicago.org
Middle East meets Midwest
Born in Ramallah, Wanees Zarour immigrated to the U.S. as a preteen. More recently, he and guitarist Fareed Haque revived the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra, a Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events ensemble whose founding principle has taken on new resonance in the age of Operation Midway Blitz. Zarour’s East Loop band reflects his biography, superimposing Arabic maqam modes — which he plucks out on oud or buzuq — atop a jazzy foundation. The group releases its debut album, “Silwan,” with a concert at Constellation.
8:30 p.m. Feb. 13 at Constellation, 3111 N. Western Ave.; $36 advance, $30 door; constellation-chicago.com
SPACE stars
The Evanston venue’s lineup this winter is as sterling as ever. Two unmissables: the energetic, inventive pianist Emmet Cohen, tipping his hat to Miles Davis and John Coltrane, and 21st century bard Cécile McLorin Salvant, her first local appearance since autumn’s rangy, whimsical “Oh Snap.”
Emmet Cohen in “Miles and Coltrane at 100,” four shows 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Feb. 24 and 25, tickets $27-$86; Cécile McLorin Salvant, two shows 7 and 9:30 p.m. March 23, tickets $74-$113; both at SPACE, 1245 Chicago Ave., Evanston; evanstonspace.com
Hannah Edgar is a freelance critic.