Release Celebration Concerts: April 18-19, 2026 - Winter’s Jazz Club; May 14-17, 2026 - The Jazz Showcase
Chicago Soul Jazz Collective returns with No Wind & No Rain, their fourth album and most fully realized artistic statement to date. A seven-piece ensemble led by saxophonist John Fournier and featuring the acclaimed vocalist Dee Alexander, CSJC has spent years seeking that elusive sweet spot where Chicago soul and jazz converge with blues, gospel, and folk to create a sound that echoes throughout the history and the present moment of the Windy City. Under the expert production of guitarist Larry Brown Jr., they’ve crafted a record that is as sophisticated as it is gritty, as gripping as it is grooving—just like the city they call home.
The ensemble’s journey began in 2017 when Fournier, feeling lost and seeking comfort, returned to the records that first inspired him as a young musician—Ramsey Lewis, The Crusaders, Horace Silver, Cannonball Adderley, Eddie Harris, Les McCann. “I was listening to records I had not heard in years but which were my initial inspirations,” reflects Fournier. “I found this music had an underlying sheer joy which made me feel great. I figured that if listening to them made me feel great, then playing them live would make me feel even better.” What started as a modest Wednesday night residency at WIRE in Berwyn, Illinois, quickly became something more significant. By the second performance, the club was packed, and CSJC has been playing to full houses ever since.
Their debut recording Soulophone, a live album of classic soul jazz tunes, was initially pressed in limited quantities to sell at shows. Somehow jazz stations across the country discovered the record, and it became one of the top jazz releases that year. Emboldened, the ensemble pivoted to original material with It Takes a Spark to Start a Fire, featuring guest artists Nicholas Payton and Raul Midon. When the great Chicago jazz vocalist Dee Alexander joined the collective, everything changed. With Alexander’s incredible ability to deliver a song, CSJC created On the Way to Be Free, a critically acclaimed top 10 record that brought them to major festivals including Chicago Jazz Fest and Hyde Park Jazz Fest, and established them as regulars at world-class venues like The Jazz Showcase and Winter’s.
No Wind & No Rain represents the culmination of this artistic evolution. The album’s theme is perseverance, best captured in the lyric “They can’t make no wind strong enough to blow my castle down.” “We acknowledge that we are living in difficult times,” explains Fournier. “However, Chicago soul and jazz and the city it comes from are too strong to be held down, and our music and our spirit will always prevail. In this way, No Wind & No Rain is a reminder through music to us all that we are more than we seem, we have faced difficult tasks before, and if we stick together with faith and hope we will emerge stronger for the new day.”
The album opens with “The Laughing Heart,” a high-energy, infectious funky blues instrumental that gives the band a chance to stretch out and introduce themselves before bringing up the vocalist. Fournier and Brown tear it up before a drum and organ breakdown. The connection between bassist Micah Collier and drummer/organist Keith Brooks II is skin tight across the entire album. Handclaps add to the party atmosphere on the vamp out.
“A Town Called Mercy” provides sharp contrast to the upbeat opener, with Dee Alexander delivering Fournier’s haunting lyric with appropriate pathos. Amr Fahmy’s piano solo, equal parts soul and sophistication, evokes another great Chicago pianist, Donny Hathaway, and is followed by a spirited exchange between trumpeter Ryan Nyther and Fournier. The unison bass and keyboards in the last minute recall Stevie Wonder’s classic 1970s sound, as do many of the surprising harmonic twists on the album.
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Larry Brown’s muted guitar riff launches his composition “So Alive pt. 2,” with the lyric “you thought I was dead but I’ve never been so alive” serving as a testament to the power of the comeback. The title track “No Wind & No Rain” finds Alexander at her nasty, funky best in the verses—just listen to her say “neighborhood” or “desire” to get a taste. The composed horn interlude after Alexander’s vocal has trace elements of Wonder and Earth, Wind & Fire, but also a flavor unique to CSJC. Brief “There is Light” interludes recur across the record, each a momentary oasis providing breathing space between the album’s more substantial statements. “Message to a Child” offers an open, upbeat vibe perfect for Fournier’s lyric of hope and affirmation. Here CSJC channels Minnie Riperton’s work with Charles Stepney on Come into My Garden, a Chicago soul classic and North Star for the band. Alexander shows her impressive depth and breadth, conveying a wide range of moods through subtle changes in vocal timbre, diction, and delivery, while Collier’s virtuosic shifts between groove and melodic commentary add another layer of depth.
“On the Way to be Free” features funky piano and vocal improvisation by Alexander panned wide, with brooding, muted trumpet and Afro-Latin flavored funk. Fournier’s extended solo is one of his best on the record, a lyrical blend of blues and Turrentine-inflected bop. “There is Light Somewhere” provides another instrumental interlude before “A Groove for Ramsey” closes the set with a funky, down-home instrumental number dedicated to Chicago legend Ramsey Lewis. Brown’s solo is singing and in the pocket, his soulful single-line style and biting attack evocative of George Benson. Stick around for the end to hear a ringing endorsement of Ramsey Lewis from a surprise guest. A final “There is Light” interlude serves as postscript, featuring Nyther’s lovely flugelhorn and muted trumpet in turn.
“Chicago Soul Jazz Collective plays original compositions,” notes Fournier. “Chicago has a rich history of music and artists and labels, and we try to absorb everything our city offers in order to create something that adds to the traditions. We try to hold onto the teachings and legacy of Herbie Hancock, Muddy Waters, Oscar Brown Jr., Terry Callier, Von Freeman, Etta James, King Oliver, Mavis Staples and add to it as best we can to keep this music moving forward to help and heal.” With No Wind & No Rain, Chicago Soul Jazz Collective has achieved exactly that—a record steeped in the glorious musical traditions of the Windy City while creating something undeniably modern and fresh, music that lifts you up and takes you to the higher place you deserve to be.
1. The Laughing Heart music by John Fournier (ASCAP)
2. A Town Called Mercy music and lyrics by John Fournier
3. So Alive pt. 2 music and lyrics by Larry Brown Jr. (BMI)
4. No Wind & No Rain lyrics by John Fournier music by John Fournier and Larry Brown Jr.
5. There is Light interlude #1 music by Larry Brown Jr.
6. Message to a Child lyrics by John Fournier music by John Fournier and Larry Brown Jr.
7. On the way to be free music and lyrics by John Fournier
8. There is Light Somewhere music by John Fournier
9. A Groove for Ramsey music by John Fournier
10. There is Light interlude #2 music by John Fournier
CHICAGO SOUL JAZZ COLLECTIVE
DEE ALEXANDER vocals; LARRY BROWN JR. guitar, vocals; KEITH BROOKS II drums, B-3 organ; MICAH COLLIER electric and acoustic bass; AMR FAHMY piano, Rhodes; JOHN FOURNIER tenor saxophone; RYAN NYTHER trumpet, flugelhorn.
Produced by Larry Brown Jr.
All compositions published by Fournier Music (ASCAP) and Larry Brown Jr. (BMI)
Arranged by Larry Brown Jr. and CSJC
Post production, Recording and Auxiliary Instrumentation by Aaron Day
Recorded by Brennan Mitrolka at Transient Sound Recorded by Jon Smith at Retro Room Recording
Mixed and Mastered by Mason Bonner
Cover art by Arthur Wright
