TICKETS are $10 General/$5 Student.

Chicago based French American pianist Lara Driscoll’s trio will perform music from her debut record Woven Dreams. The album was noted by Downbeat magazine for “understated arrangements and meltingly delicious voicings” and features original compositions and arrangements documented during her time living in Montreal.

Lara Driscoll  - piano

Ethan Philion  - bass

Lucas Gillan - drums

"captivating style and uncluttered finesse... the melodic lines of her compositions are fluid and mesmerizing. Lara Driscoll's jazz is fresh and sophisticated." (Coco Jazz CKVL FM, Montreal)

"magical touch...musical solos" (Geanine Reid, All About Jazz)

https://laradriscoll.com/

https://laradriscoll.com/music

https://laradriscoll.com/lara-driscoll-epk

A Chicago native of French American descent, pianist Lara Driscoll has been praised for her “captivating style and uncluttered finesse” (CKVL-FM, Montreal). Downbeat noted the “understated arrangements and meltingly delicious voicings” of Lara’s trio debut Woven Dreams, which features original compositions and arrangements documented during her time living in Montreal. After earning her Bachelor’s in Jazz Piano from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she went on to graduate with a Master’s in Jazz Performance from McGill University’s Schulich School of Music on scholarship under the tutelage of Jan Jarcyzk. She also taught at McGill before going on to her current faculty position at Loyola University. She has received the Luminarts Graduate Jazz Composition, Performance and People’s Choice awards, and has performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival, Jazz Education Network Conference, The Jazz Showcase, Andy’s Jazz Club, The Rex Jazz and Blues Bar, Upstairs Jazz Bar, the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and more. She is busy as a freelance pianist in the Chicago area, and in addition to her trio and the Firm Roots Duo (debut album Firm Roots released in 2021), she can be heard as pianist and arranger on vocalist Nancy Lane’s Let Me Love You, as well as on recordings by the groups Bossa Nuevo and Tango Espejo. Chicago Jazz Magazine said Woven Dreams is “a superb first statement from a talented musician who, so early in her career, has developed her own singular sound." Lucid Culture described Driscoll’s “painterly approach,” and the Whole Note (Toronto) said she “imparts an extraordinary bigness to this music that most pianists would die to achieve.”

Ethan Philion is an award-winning bassist, composer, and bandleader based in Chicago. A graduate of Oberlin Conservatory and DePaul University,Philion has been praised by the Washington Post for his "well-honed chops and astounding musicality” and his debut album, Meditations on Mingus, was commended as “a labor of conspicuous love and respect for a musical titan” by Downbeat Magazine. He has performed with an extensive list of jazz artists including Rufus Reid, Greg Ward, Dana Hall, Mark Feldman, Russ Johnson, Howard Levy, Ryan Cohan, Tito Carillo, Gary Bartz, Alfonso Ponticelli, Ernest Dawkins, Geof Bradfield, Dee Alexander, Mark Gross, Alyssa Allgood, Thaddeus Tukes, Victor Garcia, Mike Allemana, Mai Sugimoto, Paul Marinaro, and more.

Philion’s album Meditations on Mingus was released in 2022 and has garnered praise from publications including the Chicago Tribune, JAZZIZ, Jazzwise, WDCB, and more. Esteemed critic Neil Tesser lauded the album’s “colorful obbligatos [and] ingenious wrinkles that—along with dazzling and deeply realized performances from all—lift this album above so many of the year’s Mingus centennial tributes.” The 10 piece ensemble was one of the headlining acts of the 2022 Chicago Jazz Festival and has performed across the country. Philion’s original music quartet–featuring Greg Ward, Russ Johnson, and Dana Hall performed at the 2023 Hyde Park Jazz Festival and their debut album Gnosis will be released on October 6th.

Lucas Gillan performs as a drummer in diverse musical settings, teaches drums and percussion to a wide range of ages, and composes and presents his own music on a regular basis. His drumming has brought him to the top jazz and rock clubs in Chicago, like the Green Mill, the Jazz Showcase, Andy's Jazz Club, Lincoln Hall, Schubas and many more. He has also toured around the country, including shows in St. Louis, Madison, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Nashville, and Austin. In 2019, he joined Blue Man Group.

Apart from his work as a sideman and an educator, Lucas also composes and presents his own music. He leads an original jazz quartet called Lucas Gillan's Many Blessings, with whom he performed at the 2018 Chicago Jazz Festival. Many Blessings has released two albums on JeruJazz Records, the most recent of which, Chit-Chatting With Herbie, received critical acclaim from the likes of The Wire (UK), Chicago Jazz Magazine, and the New York City Jazz Record. Lucas is also the drummer in the Chicago soul/pop band The Right Now, whose most recent full-length album, Starlight, includes tracks co-composed by Lucas.

Concerts and events made possible, in part, with support from the Wells Fargo Philanthropic Services Private Trust Foundations, which include grants from the Stanley A. and Flora P. Clark Memorial Community Trust Foundation (2020-2021; 2022-2023 seasons), the John, Anna, and Martha Jane Fields Memorial Trust Foundation (2021-2022; 2022-2023 seasons), and the Florence V. Carroll Charitable Trust (2021-2022; 2022-2023 season). Special concert event support provided by the Arts Midwest Grow, Invest, Gather (GIG) Fund grant (2022-2023 season). Activities are made possible in part by the Arts Organization Support (AOS), Indiana Arts Commission, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency (2023-2024 season).

Concerts and events made possible, in part, with support from The Esther and George Jaruga Charitable Foundation (2020-2023 seasons).

The Student and Home Grown Series concerts made possible, in part, with support from the ArtsEverywhere Grant from the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, and the Arts Project Support Grant and the Arts Recovery Grant through the Indiana Arts Commission.