2007-11-30
Tribune Arts By Howard Reich - Performance Update
LAST-MINUTE GEMS
Sabertooth on the prowl at Green Mill
By Howard Reich | Tribune arts critic
November 30, 2007
Chicago saxophonist Pat Mallinger plays in so many bands around Chicago that it can be tough to identify him with a single sound or style.
But the group he's fronted for more than a decade at the Green Mill -- Sabertooth -- certainly stands among the most freewheeling of his musical vehicles. Rarely does Mallinger sound less inhibited or more adventurous than in this late-night band, which every Saturday plays into the small hours.
Moreover, Mallinger's partnership in Sabertooth with tenor saxist Cameron Pfiffner recalls the fabled duo of Zoot Sims and Al Cohn, tenorists who decades earlier battled against each other one moment, traded silken ballad phrases the next.Thanks to his virtuoso work with the Chicago Jazz Ensemble, an exemplary repertory band based at Columbia College Chicago, Mallinger enjoys wide recognition in Chicago. But if his work with CJE by definition must be tautly disciplined, in Sabertooth he cuts loose, to often galvanizing effect.
Add the terrific organist Pete Benson and drummer Ted Sirota into the mix, and you understand why this engagement has thrived for so many years.
Sabertooth plays midnight Saturday at the Green Mill Jazz Club, 4802 N. Broadway. $5; 773-878-5552.
Also worth catching:
* The Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet plays a rare concert performance 9 p.m. Saturday at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave.; $20; 312-397-4010.
* Pianist Ryan Cohan leads a sextet to celebrate the release of the CD "One Sky"; 9 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday at the Green Mill Jazz Club. $12; 773-878-5552.
* Dr. Lonnie Smith will lead an "Organ Blast" show presented by the non-profit Jazz Institute of Chicago, 7:30 p.m. Friday at the South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 S. South Shore Drive. Free; 312-427-1676.
-hreich@tribune.com
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