Legendary concert venue Metro Chicago, 3730 N. Clark St on the city’s north side, will be hosting Music for Mars, a show to raise funds for Mars Williams’s medical treatment as he battles cancer, on Saturday, November 25 at 8PM CST with doors at 7PM CST.
The show is open to patrons ages 18+ and $30 advance tickets are available via Metro’s official Website. $150 reserved tables for two are also available and day-of-show tickets are priced at $35. Metro bars are cash only. Tickets are available here.
The benefit will feature the Grammy-nominated Liquid Soul, the pioneering acid jazz band founded by Williams, with The Joe Marcinek Band and DJ Jesse De La Pena. Special guests will include Mars’s Psychedelic Furs band mates Richard Butler, Zachary Alford and Rich Good, Jeff Coffin of Dave Matthews Band, Richard Fortus of Guns N’ Roses, and Rock Ridge Music recording artist Ike Reilly.
Mars Williams has studied with Anthony Braxton and Roscoe Mitchell and has worked as an arranger and orchestrator. An open-minded musician who commutes easily between free jazz and rock, Williams has played and recorded with The Psychedelic Furs, Massacre (the Fred Frith/Bill Laswell Group), Ministry, Billy Idol, the Power Station, Die Warzau, The Waitresses, Pete Cosey, Billy Squier and virtually every leading figure of New York City’s “downtown” scene.
John Zorn credits Mars as “one of the true saxophone players–someone who takes pleasure in the sheer act of blowing the horn.” Despite his busy touring schedule with The Psychedelic Furs, Mars manages to stay active in the Chicago underground improv scene. In recent years, he has toured and recorded with the Peter Brotzman Tentet, and the Vandermark 5, teaming him with such musicians as Ken Vandermark, Hamid Drake and William Parker. And as a bandleader, he has continued to perform and record with his own free-jazz groups such as the NRG Ensemble, Witches & Devils, Slam and X Mars X.
A statement from the benefit concert’s organizers reads “Music for Mars is about his Liquid Soul band mates and music friends gathering to celebrate and pay tribute to Mars and his multi-faceted music career, while also helping raise funds for his cancer treatment.”
