Join us on our Jackman Goldwasser Catwalk overlooking our main gallery for Catwalk Concerts, a music series in partnership with Experimental Sound Studio sponsored by our Artist Run Chicago Fund. Enjoy a performance from experimental sound artists, alongside illuminated video projections and film based art on our façade.

RSVP Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/catwalk-concert-allen-moore-brown-girl-magic-trio-tickets-740420326127?aff=

Featured Artists: Allen Moore & Brown Girl Magic Trio

Allen Moore:

Allen Moore is a Black Interdisciplinary Visual Artist, Experimental Turntableist, Sound Artist, Educator and Youth Mentor born and raised in the Historic Village of Robbins IL. Moore holds a Bachelors of Arts from Chicago State University, a Masters in Arts from Governors State University and a Masters of Fine Arts from Northern Illinois University in 2016. His recent body work investigates both the audio and visual element of black death and black grief. His conceptual premise is to analyze the signifiers of Blackness through performative Improvisation and experimentation. Moore is driven to nurture and expand the agency of the Black Imagination. Currently he is a Makerspace Manager specializing in STEM/STEAM and DIY education in the greater Chicagoland area. Moore has exhibited and performed across the greater midwest, including exhibitions at Heaven Gallery, Compound Yellow, Experimental Sound Studio, Elastic Arts, Threewalls, The Museum of Contemporary Art, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Roots & Culture Gallery, Lula Cafe, The Star Media Group, Union Street Gallery, The Museum of Science and Industry Chicago, etc.

Brown Girl Magic Trio (Dee Alexander, Coco Elysses, and Carmani Edwards)

Dee Alexander

Born on Chicago’s west side, Dee Alexander is one of Chicago’s most gifted and respected female vocalist/songwriters. Her talents span every music genre, from Gospel to R&B, from Blues to Neo-Soul. Yet her true heart and soul are experienced in their purest form through her performance of Jazz music. From a soft, sultry ballad to a scat-filled romp; Dee Alexander delivers each style with a passion for music that comes across in every note, and a grace that is truly her own. Growing up in a household that was steeped in recordings of Dinah Washington; Ms. Alexander names Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald among her major influences. As well as Chicago saxophonist Henry Huff, who encouraged her to take risks and cross boundaries thus setting her on the path to becoming one of the most accomplished voice improvisers in the world today.

Her Jazz Institute of Chicago commissioned tribute to Nina Simone and Dinah Washington entitled “Sirens of Song” introduced her to a larger audience and marked the beginning of worldwide recognition. The Millennium Park performance on the Pritzker Pavilion stage also began a period of frequent European touring. Ms. Alexander boasts long and fruitful associations with Chicago’s jazz elite; including Ramsey Lewis, Orbert Davis, Nicole Mitchell, Chicago Jazz Orchestra, and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). She leads her own Dee Alexander Quartet and the Evolution Ensemble whose music ranges from original compositions to renditions of James Brown and Jimi Hendrix.

Ms. Alexander has received the Chicagoan of the Year in Jazz award and the 3Arts Award for Music. Her CD “Wild is the Wind” was named the album of the summer in France, earned her top votes in Downbeat’s readers and Critics polls; received 5 stars in Downbeat and was chosen as one of its top ten recordings in the first decade of the new millennium. Her performance at the 2013 Newport Jazz Festival was selected by the NY Times as one of the best concerts with staying power. She has garnered accolades in African, Australian, European and North American press.

Dee’s current project, “Songs My Mother Loves” has received rave reviews and is intended not only to express thanks and pay tribute to Dee’s mother for her inspiration and influence, but also to pay homage to the music that has become such a significant part of her life.

Ms. Alexander is currently a Host on the WFMT Jazz Radio Network.

Coco Elysses

Coco Elysses, a modern-day renaissance woman hails from Robbins, Illinois She is the Chairwoman of the venerable AACM (The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians). Coco completed her MFA in creative writing and was a published poet before graduation. During their second season, she was a featured musician in the critically claimed FOX drama Empire.

In 2014, Coco was a semi-finalist in Lifetime Television Unscripted Development Pipeline. Coco’s voice can be heard at the Adler Planetarium in the instillation, Skywatchers of Africa. Coco’s voice can also be heard in, Saint’s Row video game, EverQuest II and Watchdogs. In 2018 she won the ALTA Award for Best Original Music in a Play and the 2019 non-equity Jeff Award for Best Original Music in a Play for Tilikum, the first for an African American woman. Coco composed music and performed as an actress in Baltimore Center Stage’s touring mobile unit, Antigone as Tiresias.

Coco was a featured actress in George E. Lewis’ film, Afterword via Fantasia and in the opera of the same name at The Museum of Contemporary Art. She performed at the Frankfurt, Germany Jazz Festival with Generation Now of the AACM and at the Made in Chicago Jazz Festival in Poznan, Poland with Voice Heard- a collective of women musicians of the AACM. Coco was a featured actress on Chicago PD and a featured musician on Chicago Med.

She appeared as an actress in the Midwest premier of Detroit 67’ at Northlight Theatre directed by Ron O.J. Parsons.

Coco was also a featured musician in the book, Black Women and Music: More than The Blues, documenting historical female musicians. Coco performed with the Great Black Music Ensemble of the AACM in Pisa, Italy for The Insolent Noise Festival, at Millennium Park Chicago, The Chicago Blues Festival for the Chicago Jazz Festival. She has also performed with Renee Baker’s Chicago Modern Orchestra Project. She also performed with the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. She was a featured artist in Taiko Legacy 8, 10 & 11 at the Museum of Contemporary Art with Tatsu Aoki, and Tsukasa Taiko, Miyumi Project at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival. Coco’s Elixir Ensemble has been featured at the Havana Jazz Festival, the Hyde Park Jazz Festival and the Jazz Institute of Chicago, Women’s History Month concert series. Coco’s poetry is featured in 99 New Poems: A Contemporary Anthology. Coco is a member of Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth SWAY, playing percussion and diddley bow. Black Earth Sway has been featured at Harvard University, San Francisco Jazz Festival, SESC Jazz, Pompeia, Sao Paulo Brazil, South America and The Promontory in Chicago.

A few of her noted recordings were in Chile, South America, with Raiza, on their CD, Latin Soul-EMI and Nicole Mitchell’s Africa Rising, Skylanding- The music of Yoko Ono by the Miyumi Project. Raw and Alive 1 & 2- Miyumi Project 2018, Resurrection Suite with Carlos Pride and Ben Lamar Gay. Coco is a member of AFTRA-SAG, AEA, AACM and the AFM.

Carmani Edwards

A Chicago native, Carmani Edwards is a bassist in Chicago’s music scene. At 16 she took up the electric bass, and a year later fell in love with the double bass under the mentorship of the Ravinia Jazz Scholars program, where she studied under the late Willie Pickens. Studying under an array of professionals in her instrument—Katie Ernst, Dennis Carroll, Junius Paul, Marlene Rosenberg, and Ivan Taylor—in 2023 she graduated from DePaul University, receiving a Bachelor of Music from the Jazz Studies program.

Carmani has had the privilege to learn from and perform with Ernest Dawkins, Bethany Pickens, Kalil El’ Zabar, Isaiah Spencer, and Sharel Cassity, among others. You can find her sharing her sound at Andy’s Jazz Club, Fulton Street Collective, Epiphany Center for the Arts, the Logan Center, and other music venues around Chicago.

About Experimental Sound Studio

Founded in 1986 by Dawn and Lou Mallozzi, Eric Leonardson, and Perry Venson, Experimental Sound Studio (ESS) has occupied its Edgewater location since 2006. The facility is home to a full-service recording, mixing, and mastering studio for hire; Audible Gallery, a small public space for exhibitions, meetings, workshops, performances, and artists’ projects; and the Creative Audio Archive—an invaluable collection of recordings, print, and visual ephemera related to avant-garde and exploratory sound and music of the last five decades. ESS presents eclectic performance and installation programming, workshops, and artist talks year round—both in the various spaces around the studio (including its beautiful garden) and at various partner venues around Chicago.

About Artist Run Chicago Fund

Initiated during the challenging years of the COVID-19 outbreak, the ARC Fund has created breathing room for artist-run projects to continue to innovate and thrive. The grants have increased the platforms’ capacity to pay artists to make new work, hire staff, build residency programs that attract visiting artists to the region, and invest in socially engaged practices.

For over two decades, Hyde Park Art Center has been an ally for independent art spaces. The Art Center presented the f

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Tags: Allen Moore, Brown Girl Magic Trio, Carmani Edwards, Catwalk Concert: Allen Moore & Brown Girl Magic Trio, Chicago, Coco Elysses, Dee Alexander, Experimental Sound Studio, Hyde Park, Hyde Park Art Center