The Velvet Lounge was a nightclub in the South Loop of Chicago. It started as a jazz club and was called the "dusty epicenter of the Midwest's free form jazz scene." It was located at 2128 1/2 S. Indiana Avenue before moving to 67 E. Cermak when the original building was scheduled for demolition. It closed permanently in 2019.

History

The club was established in 1983 by jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson who owned the business until his death in 2010. Many live albums were recorded at the club, including a series of performances featuring Anderson himself, on the Delmark label, and 1998's ''

Live at the Velvet Lounge ''Live at the Velvet Lounge'' is an album by American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson with German free jazz bassist Peter Kowald and long-time collaborator drummer Hamid Drake. The record documents a June 1998 performance at the Chicago club owne ...

'' with Anderson,

Peter Kowald Peter Kowald (21 April 1944 – 21 September 2002) was a German free jazz and free improvising double bassist and tubist. Career A member of the Globe Unity Orchestra, and a touring double-bass player, Kowald collaborated with many European ...

, and

Hamid Drake Hamid Drake (born August 3, 1955) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. By the close of the 1990s, Hamid Drake was widely regarded as one of the best percussionists in jazz and improvised music. Incorporating Afro-Cuban, Indian, and Afr ...

. Many prominent musicians played the Velvet Lounge early in their careers, particularly in Sunday night jam sessions. The club's standard lineup of the early 1990s featured trumpeter , saxophonist

Art Taylor Arthur S. Taylor Jr. (April 6, 1929 – February 6, 1995) was an American jazz drummer, who "helped define the sound of modern jazz drumming".Watrous, Peter (February 7, 1995)"Art Taylor, 65, Jazz Drummer Who Inspired Young Musicians" ''The Ne ...

, pianist , bassist , and drummer . From the mid 1990s, the "Velvet Graduates" house band included tenor saxophonist , baritone saxophonist , alto saxophonist II, bassist

Karl E. H. Seigfried Karl E. H. Seigfried is a German–American jazz, rock, and classical bassist, guitarist, composer, bandleader, writer and educator based in Chicago. Seigfried has performed and taught on the double bass "in virtually all musical styles – ...

, and drummer . After Anderson's death, the club was purchased by a neighboring business which ended the jazz performances and instead presented DJs, hip hop music, and comedians. In 2013, Mike Reed founded the

Constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the e ...

club, in part to fill the void left after the Velvet Lounge closed.

History

References

See also