Join us for Side Yard Sounds at Compound Yellow

Featuring the creative music of Mai Sugimoto, LeRoy Bach, and Anton Hatwich.

244 Lake Street, Oak Park

7pm to 9pm

Tickets: https://www.ticketleap.events/.../side-yard-sounds-leroy...

BYOB

About the musicians:

Mai Sugimoto is a saxophonist, composer, educator, and active member of Chicago's jazz and creative music scene. Born/Raised, her debut album (Asian Improv Records, 2018), explores this cultural and musical binary, juxtaposing her Japanese upbringing with the American jazz idiom. Sugimoto is a core member of the quartet Hanami, whose two albums similarly mix Japanese culture into creative music. Sugimoto has performed five times at the Chicago Jazz Festival: in 2015 with Hanami, in 2019, 2022, and 2024 as a leader, and in 2018 and 2022 with renowned bassist Tatsu Aoki, with whom she frequently plays, including appearances in his Fred Anderson Legacy Band. Her first solo album, monologue (Asian Improv Records) was released in March of 2021. Sugimoto’s work also appears on Natural Information Society’s album, Since Time Is Gravity (Eremite, 2023). Of her latest album, Sunlight filtering Through Leaves (Asian Improv Records, 2024), music critic Peter Margasak writes that “[the album] conveys that singular joy of good improvised music, when it’s not about ripping solos but group unity. Naturally, I’m advising you all to pay close attention to Sugimoto from here on out.”

Bassist, composer, and improviser Anton Hatwich has lived in Chicago since 2003. He was born and raised in Rockford, IL, growing up in a musical family. Anton moved to Iowa City, IA in 1995 and lived there until 2002, earning a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Iowa. After graduation Hatwich taught for two years as Visiting Artist in Music at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, IA. At the UI he studied bass with Dr. Diana Gannett, jazz and improvisation with John Rapson, and also gained valuable experience playing with the school's renown Center for New Music, under the direction of David Gompper. Outside of class, Anton was active in the local music scene. Of particular lasting importance was his work with clarinettist, saxophonist, and composer Robert Paredes, with whom Anton took first steps in the world of free improvisation.

In late 2002 Hatwich started spending large amounts of time amongst Chicago's improvised music community, hanging out all night with his new friends at concerts and bars, and crashing on his brother's couch. One thing led to another, and by spring of 2003 he was playing so much in Chicago that it made sense to move there. Since that time he has played in endlessly varied groups of (mostly) improvising musicians, with some combinations sticking around longer than others. A partial list of his collaborators includes Frank Rosaly, Keefe Jackson, Aram Shelton, Nick Mazzarella, Russ Johnson, Tim Daisy, Jason Stein, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Josh Berman, and Paul Giallorenzo. With the bands that lasted, Anton has recorded a number of critically acclaimed albums and toured nationally and internationally. He has appeared at a handful of the major jazz festivals, including the Chicago Jazz Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Ring Ring Festival in Belgrade, the Umbrella Festival, and the Ulrichsberger Kaleidophon Festival in Austria. In addition to his performance work, Anton maintains a small private teaching studio.

LeRoy Bach is a Chicago-based musician, composer, and arts instigator. He has led ensembles and hosted musical gatherings in Chicago for more than thirty years.

For seven years, Bach was a member of the Black Monks of Mississippi with Theaster Gates. He was also a member of Wilco for seven years, earning a Grammy and two nominations.

He has a fifteen-year duo partnership with Dan Bitney (Tortoise, Isotope 217), performing improvised music every month at the California Clipper, Consignment Lounge and Middlebrow Bungalow. He also maintains a busy schedule with Official Claire, Marvin Tate, and Mai Sugimoto.

Bach is a former artist-in-residence resident at the Headlands Center for the Arts, University of Chicago Arts Incubator, University of Chicago Smart Museum, the Djerassi Arts Colony, and the Ragdale Residency. He is an alumni of Berklee College of Music, and Columbia College, where he earned his bachelor's degree in Jazz Performance.

Past collaborators include guitarist Bill MacKay, Chicago Poet Laureate avery r. young, musician Tim Kinsella, singer Yaw Agyman, and many others. Bach regularly performs in venues throughout Chicago.