Side Yard Sounds presents: Avreeayl Ra, Erez Dessel, Ken Vandermark, and Shanta Nurullah

Name: Side Yard Sounds presents: Avreeayl Ra, Erez Dessel, Ken Vandermark, and Shanta Nurullah
Start: 2025-08-16T19:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-08-16T21:00:00-05:00
Location: 244 Lake St, Oak Park, IL, United States, Illinois 60302

Schedule

Sat Aug 16 2025 at 07:00 pm to 09:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

244 Lake St, Oak Park, IL, United States, Illinois 60302 | Oak Park, IL

Side Yard Sounds is excited to present an evening of solo performances by Avreeayl Ra, Erez Dessel, Ken Vandermark, and Shanta Nurullah.
8/16
7pm- 9pm
BYOB
Tickets $15 https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/compound-yellow/side-yard-sounds-avreeayl-ra-erez-dessel-ken-vandermark-and-shanta-nurullah
Drummer/percussionist Avreeayl Ra grew up in Chicago in a house full of music: his father, Arthur “Swinglee” O’Neil, was a tenor saxophonist who mentored many young Chicago musicians, including John Gilmore. He studied drums with Kelan Philip Cohran, one of the cofounders of the AACM and has since remained a member of that organization. Ra has performed and/or recorded with Fred Anderson, Amiri Baraka, Fontella Bass, Lester Bowie, Ari Brown, Oscar Brown, Jr., Charles Gayle, Henry Grimes, Billy Harper, Joseph Jarman, Edward “Kidd” Jordan, Nicole Mitchell, Sun Ra, Pharoah Sanders, Malachi Thompson, and many others.
Erez Dessel (USA 1998) is an improvising pianist and composer living and working in Chicago, Illinois. He holds a BM in jazz piano from the New England Conservatory of Music. Dessel’s work explores the piano as a vehicle for human connection. A primary part of his practice is the history of the instrument as a tool for storytelling and world-building. His current group activity includes the bands Edition Redux, Look Both Days, Ra Bishop, and Banana Acid; as well as frequent work as a solo performer. Dessel has toured nationally and internationally, including festival appearances at Edgefest, the Catalytic Sound festival, the Madrid jazz festival, and the Wels Music Unlimited festival.
Ken Vandermark (USA, 1964) is a renowned avant-garde composer, improviser, saxophonist/clarinetist, curator, and writer. He has collaborated and recorded with key figures from the AACM (Fred Anderson), FMP (Peter Brötzmann), British improvisation (Paul Lytton), post-punk (Terrie Ex), Ethiopian music (Getachew Mekuria), and Japanese free jazz (Akira Sakata). Since 2012, he has directed the Catalytic Sound cooperative and runs Audiographic Records (founded 2014). In 1999, he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for his contributions to music.
Shanta Nurullah is a storyteller, musician, and teaching artist. Her career spans over four decades of promoting African and African-American folklore, spoken word performance, children's and improvisational music. Shanta has performed across the U.S. and abroad and has received numerous awards, fellowships, and grants. As a musician, Shanta Nurullah has distinguished herself as an improviser on sitar, bass, and mbira. A member of the legendary Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Shanta co-founded the all women's bands Sojourner and Samana. In addition, she has played with Nicole Mitchell, Dee Alexander, Junius Paul, David Boykin, Tomeka Reid, Saalik Ziyad, and the AACM Great Black Music Ensemble.