Mike Reed

Loose Assembly: The Speed of Change (482 Music)

People, Places & Things: Proliferation (482 Music)

All bandleaders are curators—of their influences, their groups’ members, the tunes they cover and even the notes they play. Mike Reed, local jazz drummer and ensemble director, makes a living as a curator in the more traditional sense, booking this summer’s Pitchfork Music Festival and this fall’s much-anticipated free-jazz–packed Umbrella Music Festival. The musician has also released a new album from each of his jazz bands, Loose Assembly and People, Places & Things.

As a percussionist, Reed rarely overpowers with technique or tries to bang out mesmerizing hemiolas. In the tradition of steady Chicago jazz sticksmen like Wilbur Campbell (whom PPT covers), Reed seems to thrive most as a near-invisible workhorse, a selfless empowerer of groove; he’s eager to let others in his groups shine. And while his sense of time may not always be impeccable, his taste and sense of space usually are—his covers are invariably well chosen and provocative.

Despite its unusual lineup—cello, vibes (the rambunctious Jason Adasiewicz), sax, bass and drums—Loose Assembly is one of Reed’s more regular outlets and, accordingly, has a bubbling, organic chemistry. On its second album, the Assembly breezes through music as diverse as a cover of Ethiopian vibraphonist Mulata Astatke (airy and light, with a chugging Afro-Asian groove) and vaguely blues-drenched meditations, such as Reed’s “Picking Up Greta.” Even with this abundance of talent and good taste, the improvisations meander a bit too often; the Assembly is still finding its collective voice.

People, Places & Things stems from Reed’s fascination with ’50s Chicago jazz. PPT both infuses with new meaning and pays homage to tunes from a cataclysmic time in the city’s jazz history, when seeds of the avant-garde collective Umbrella were first planted. In covering the ominous early work of Sun Ra, as well as Oscar Brown Jr. and saxophonist John Jenkins, the dueling voices of bold, young alto saxophonist Greg Ward and tenor man Tim Haldeman expose the fractured foundation upon which this music was built. Ultimately, Proliferation wildly succeeds in giving new life to an era long taken for granted—a task fit for a great curator.

PPT plays the Velvet Lounge Friday 22 and Saturday 23 and Pritzker Pavilion Monday 25.