Chicago Soul Jazz Collective concerts

About Chicago Soul Jazz Collective

Chicago Soul Jazz Collective is a Chicago-based soul-jazz ensemble led by tenor saxophonist John Fournier, working across jazz, R&B, funk, gospel, blues, and folk-inflected songwriting. The draw for a live listener is specific: this is a working seven-piece whose current record pairs composed horn passages and electric-keyboard color with lead vocalist Dee Alexander, placing a full-band Chicago groove behind songs with clear lyrical themes.

Built from a shared record collection

The Collective took shape in Chicago in 2017 after Fournier and trumpeter Marques Carroll met on a Robbie Fulks session and discovered a common refuge in hard-bop-era soul-jazz LPs. Fournier and Carroll formed the founding leadership pair; their project grew from the music of Ramsey Lewis, Lee Morgan, Jimmy Smith, Horace Silver, Cannonball Adderley, Eddie Harris, Les McCann, and the Crusaders. Its first album, Soulophone, arrived in 2018 through the group’s independent operation and recast vintage material from that lineage for a contemporary Chicago band.

From repertory band to song-driven unit

Soulophone (2018, independent) established the premise through versions of older soul-jazz repertoire, including material associated with Ramsey Lewis, Lee Morgan, and Jimmy Smith. That choice foregrounded the instrumental engine: tenor and trumpet up front, with the rhythm section carrying danceable, hard-bop-derived figures. It Takes a Spark to Start a Fire (2020, independent) made a decisive shift into original composition. The record featured guest appearances by trumpeter Nicholas Payton and vocalist Raul Midón, expanding the group’s palette while retaining its Chicago soul-jazz center. On the Way to Be Free (2022, independent) brought Dee Alexander into the project for a nine-song program centered largely on Fournier’s writing; Larry Brown Jr. supplied “Crazy Wrong.” The album gave the group a lead voice capable of moving between protest songs, ballads, and classic R&B forms. No Wind & No Rain (2026, Calligram Records) presents the current seven-piece, with Alexander, Brown, Keith Brooks II, Micah Collier, Amr Fahmy, Fournier, and Ryan Nyther. Its ten tracks include Fournier and Brown compositions such as “A Town Called Mercy,” “Message to a Child,” and “So Alive pt. 2,” with Brown serving as producer and co-arranger.

The people inside the Collective

The group’s personnel operates as a collective with a rotating cast around a core, a format visible in its Winter’s Jazz Club listings. Alexander became the defining vocal collaborator on On the Way to Be Free and remains on the current album; guitarist and vocalist Larry Brown Jr. has developed into a central creative partner through composition, production, and arranging. Earlier guest work with Nicholas Payton and Raul Midón broadened the second album’s reach, while the 2026 move to Chicago label Calligram Records places the Collective within a catalog devoted to creative jazz from the city and beyond.

A Chicago club-band record

The available performance record points to a Chicago-centered live life built around dedicated listening rooms and repeat engagements. Winter’s Jazz Club hosted the No Wind & No Rain release shows on April 18 and 19, 2026, then presented the Collective again on June 19; that June bill listed Fahmy, Collier, LaShera Ellis, Joshua Achiron, Brooks, Nyther, and Fournier, illustrating the collective’s flexible personnel model. The album’s release cycle also included a four-night May 14–17, 2026 run at the Jazz Showcase. These are concrete club-scale residencies, with seven documented Chicago dates across those two rooms during spring 2026. For a prospective attendee, the strongest evidence concerns the musical format: horns, piano or Rhodes, guitar, bass, drums, and vocals sharing an original-song book built for extended ensemble interplay.

Current chapter

No Wind & No Rain, released April 10, 2026 through Calligram Records, is Chicago Soul Jazz Collective’s fourth album and current statement. Its credits list Brown as producer, Alexander on vocals, and the seven-member lineup heard across a 48-minute, ten-track set. CrowdMate has the band booked at Winter’s Jazz Club in Chicago on Friday, August 28, 2026, and Saturday, August 29, 2026. Those dates continue a year in which the Collective has repeatedly returned to its home-city jazz rooms.

Start here

“The Laughing Heart” for the instrumental opening charge and Fournier’s tenor-led band sound; “On the Way to Be Free” for Alexander’s role in the group’s songbook; “A Town Called Mercy” for the current record’s lyric-forward, soul-jazz blend.

Sources

1. The Collective — Chicago Soul Jazz Collective — Chicago Soul Jazz Collective
2. No Wind & No Rain — Chicago Soul Jazz Collective on Bandcamp
3. Chicago Soul Jazz Collective NO WIND & NO RAIN — Making A Scene
4. Chicago Soul Jazz Collective with Boyce Hudson — Winter's Jazz Club
5. WDCB presents The Chicago Soul Jazz Collective ‘No Wind & No Rain’ — Choose Chicago
6. Calligram Records — Calligram Records