Event Guide
Free Listening in Chicago: October 21 to 24
Six free-admission choices, from flamenco and jazz to local improvisers, early DJ sets and Saturday vinyl.
Wednesday offers two very different introductions: Katja Ji’s piano-and-looping solo set and Clinard Dance’s meeting of flamenco and jazz. Thursday belongs to Chicago collaborators; by the weekend, the attention shifts from musicians making new connections to DJs making them through records.
The Old Town School programs are free with suggested donations. The bar events are 21+, with food and drinks charged separately; use the official links to reserve.
Begin with Katja Ji’s solo set or the music-and-movement exchange of Furious Desire. Thursday shifts to two Chicago ensembles at the fieldhouse, then an open-ended guitar-and-electronics duo in a bar.
Katja Ji
October 21 · Epiphany Café Bar, 201 S. Ashland Ave., West Loop · 5 to 8 p.m. · Free admission with RSVP · 21+
Ji moves from jazz standards and original songs to layers of voice, piano and synth built with live looping. The appeal is hearing a solo performance change shape without a band entering the picture. It is an early-evening introduction to a pianist and songwriter newly based in Chicago.
Furious Desire
October 21 · Old Town School, Maurer Hall, Lincoln Square · 7:30 p.m. · Free with suggested donation
Clinard Dance’s Flamenco Quartet Project keeps guitar, cajon, handclaps, dance and singing in close conversation. New compositions with jazz vocalist Joan Collaso push that familiar flamenco framework somewhere else. Choose this for the give-and-take between a dancer and live musicians.
Reserve ahead; unclaimed reservations are released ten minutes before the show. The series generally suggests a $10 donation.
Future Folk Festival
October 22 · Humboldt Park Fieldhouse, 1440 N. Humboldt Dr. · 6 p.m. · Free with suggested donation
Alejandro Salazar’s Afro Cuban Exchange puts drums and congas alongside saxophone, piano and bass, keeping rhythm at the center of the conversation. YAW brings another Chicago perspective, with Hammond, vocoder, guitar, percussion and vocals in his ensemble. The pairing brings two distinct musical worlds into the same fieldhouse.
LeRoy Bach + Dan Bitney
October 22 · Sleeping Village main bar, Avondale · Music 8 to 11 p.m. · Free RSVP · 21+
Bach’s guitar and Bitney’s drums and electronics leave room for a groove to wander. Their Wilco, Tortoise and Isotope 217 histories are useful bearings, but this longstanding duo is its own reason to listen: familiar instruments, loose structures and time to find out where they lead. The music happens in the main bar.
ZAZA starts with an early-evening DJ set; Saturday hands the afternoon to Gman’s vinyl selectors. Neither requires a late-night commitment.
ZAZA
October 23 · Epiphany Café Bar, 201 S. Ashland Ave., West Loop · 5 to 8 p.m. · Free admission with RSVP · 21+
ZAZA’s Detroit-to-Chicago background comes through in a selection that draws on house, R&B, Ghettotech and AfroClub. Familiar songs and deeper cuts share space, with an emphasis on making room for BIPOC listeners to let go. This is the early-evening option for dance-music curiosity without a midnight start.
Jam Deejays Vinyl Sessions
October 24 · Gman Tavern, Wrigleyville · Doors and music 1 p.m.; DJs until 5 p.m. · Free · 21+
Jam Deejays Vinyl Sessions brings Nick Miller, Andy Cirzan, Mike LeMaistre and John Soss to Gman Tavern, with Joe Shanahan joining for a guest set. The attraction is the handover between selectors: several record collections, not one headliner’s catalog. Come for an afternoon of vinyl rather than the tempo and commitment of a late club night.
Saturday’s free Arts in the Dark parade follows from 6 to 8 p.m. For ticketed concerts and late dance floors, see Chicago This Week.
Admission and schedules checked October 19, 2026. Times are Chicago local time. Use the official links for reservations and current availability.