Chris Greene Quartet keeps its Wednesday-night date at Fitzgerald's Sidebar

Twenty-one years in, the Evanston saxophonist's band plays Berwyn on Nov. 11 — and keeps coming back through the winter.

There is a particular kind of Chicago jazz night that happens on a Wednesday in a side room, with barbecue on the table and a band that has played together so long they can turn a tune around on a glance. Next Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m., that night is the Chris Greene Quartet in the Sidebar at Fitzgerald's in Berwyn.

The band is about as local as Chicago jazz gets. Saxophonist Chris Greene is an Evanston native, and the quartet has been working the area since 2005; it is the market they play most in our records, 68 shows. The lineup barely moves. Pianist and keyboardist Damian Espinosa and bassist Marc Piane have been there from the start, and drummer Steve Corley has held the chair since 2011. Earlier this year the group marked 21 years together with a "CGQ Turns 21" show at The SPACE in Evanston.

The most recent record is still the one to know. *Conversance* came out in late 2024 on Pravda Records, and it was a milestone for both sides: the band's first studio album since 2017's *Boundary Issues*, and the first jazz release in Pravda's 40 years as one of Chicago's longest-running indie rock labels. Greene and Piane produced it. Tracks include "Gentlemen's Breakfast," "Broken Glass," "Thumper" and "Inspiration," on CD and streaming. We did not find a new release announced for this fall, so Wednesday is a working band's night, not a launch.

A band that has played together so long they can turn a tune around on a glance.

The credentials are there if you need them. The band won Best Jazz Entertainer at the 2018 Chicago Music Awards. Chicago Reader readers have voted it the city's best jazz band. But the better argument is the room. The Sidebar is the small space next to Fitzgerald's main club at 6615 Roosevelt Road, and the quartet has been a regular there, which is how a band keeps its edge between records.

Practicalities: dinner comes from Babygold Barbecue in-house, and the venue says walk-ins are welcome even when reservations are full. Street parking around Roosevelt Road is limited, so Fitzgerald's suggests rideshare, a bike or, in its words, a rickshaw. Tickets are on the venue's event page.

If you miss this one, the band is listed back in the Sidebar on Dec. 9, Jan. 13 and Feb. 10. But there is no reason to wait. Get a plate, get a seat, and let the quartet do what it has been doing every month for years.

Sources: JAZZ in the SIDEBAR with The CHRIS GREENE QUARTET – FITZGERALDS (fitzgeraldsnightclub.com); The Chris Greene Quartet in Fitzgerald's Sidebar – TicketWeb (ticketweb.com); Chris Greene Quartet events – Live Nation (livenation.com); Pravda Records Presents: Chris Greene Quartet (CGQ Turns 21) – TicketWeb (ticketweb.com); Chris Greene Quartet – Bandcamp (chrisgreenequartet.bandcamp.com); Chris Greene Quartet: Conversance – MVD (mvdb2b.com); Boundary Issues review – DownBeat (downbeat.com)