Fat Babies rekindle the Jazz Age in Chicago

Hotter than a fat baby indeed.

The Fat Babies play at 9 p.m. Tuesdays at the Green Mill Jazz Club, 4802 N. Broadway; $6; 773-878-5552. Also at 8 p.m. Sundays at the Honky Tonk BBQ, 1800 S. Racine Ave.; 312-226-7427 or honkytonkbbqchicago.com.

Jazz-tinged Beatles

Chicago pianist Anthony Molinaro has been unusually effective in traveling from jazz to classical music and back, mixing the two idioms with remarkable seamlessness. His solo version of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" remains one of the most viscerally exciting I've heard.

Now Molinaro is plunging into music of the Beatles with "Here, There and Everywhere," the title of his forthcoming solo CD and two concerts he's playing this weekend at Loyola University Chicago, where he teaches. Molinaro will perform solo, improvised versions of Beatles classics and will collaborate with Chicago harmonica titan Howard Levy.

The concerts are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Newhart Family Theatre in Loyola's Mundelein Center for the Performing Arts, 1020 W. Sheridan Rd.; admission is $10-$25; visit blogs.LUC.edu/artsalive or phone 773-508-8400.

Remembering Tony Andriacchi

The death of the great Chicago singer Tony Andriacchi on Dec. 4, at age 57, represented an enormous loss to anyone who admired ultra-sophisticated vocals and experienced the man's personal generosity and warmth.

His life's work deserves to be remembered and honored, and one way to do so would be through Chicago Cabaret Professionals, the city's leading advocacy group for the art form.

Each fall, CCP presents its gala celebration at the Park West, a kind of Oscars of Chicago cabaret, the evening devoted to musical performances and award presentations.

Why not name one of the honors for Andriacchi? His work represented the highest level of Chicago cabaret, and the move would keep his legacy alive among those who value it most.

To read more from Howard Reich on jazz, go to chicagotribune.com/reich.

hreich@tribune.com

Twitter @howardreich