Gustavo Cortiñas Quintet featuring Meghan Stagl, Kitt Lyles, Erik Skov, Emily Kuhn, Gustavo Cortiñas.
Embracing a multicultural language, while investing in a variety of disciplines within the music itself, composer, bandleader, drummer and lyricist Gustavo Cortiñas continues to surpass himself in the breadth of his work. “Cortiñas' music is uplifting, robust, melodic, and gets your body moving; it's an exciting blend of the artist's musical influences from jazz and Latin America, including his native Mexico" (Downbeat). This can be heard on his four records as a leader, "Snapshot" (2013), "a Smörgåsbord of the moods and nuances that make up the human experience," (Jazziz); "ESSE" (2017) "a fascinating musical realization, exploration, and distillation of the works of Hegel, Aristotle, Descartes, Plato, and other brilliant minds" (AllAboutJazz); and “Desafío Candente” (2021), “a musical palimpsest that carries the weight of the history of colonialism and neocolonialism of the entire southern part of the Americas” (LatinJazzNet). On his latest release, “Kind Regards / Saludos Afectuosos”, Cortiñas gives life, through music, to words that attempt to build bridges and understanding in times of borders and ignorance; words that focus on our feet and the dust on which they walk, instead of the stars under which they dream.
Every Wednesday, we present Chicago’s top jazz artists in a lively atmosphere, full of cocktail-shaking and spirited conversation.