Local Legends #10
Venue : Dorian’s
City : Chicago
Line Up : Chris Robbin (previously F.A.B.L.E.)
This was my first time at Dorian’s but it immediately checked off all my favorite jazz venue tropes. Nearly impossible to identify from the outside? Yep. Small entrance hallway full of cool jazz stuff? Yep. Super swanky venue, beautiful stage with immaculate sound, and an enthusiastic and respectful crowd? Triple yep. Drinks were wonderful and priced like they’re meant for regular humans (rare in a big city) but the atmosphere was the real selling point. I don’t know if these types of venues get together and make secret pacts to be cool-on-the-down-low or if that’s just how it is in the jazz-adjacent world, but I’m into it.
Chris Robbin however is much closer to a Kendrick Lamar than a Miles Davis, though his band could certainly hold their own in a straight jazz setting (more on that later). He’s Chicago through and through and it shows in his music; check out “Cheesecake” or “Green Room” on Spotify (under his previous moniker F.A.B.L.E. for now) to hear what I mean. I can easily imagine a Vic Mensa or even Chance the Rapper showing up in his songs if they were still in the local music circles. There’s a lot of depth and heaviness that comes with this genre already but with the added weight of a major city and it’s mix of struggles and opportunities, Chris ends up painting his stories with a large but calm sense of truth behind his words.
Performance wise, Chris is a talented rapper and uses auto-tune as a color when singing and not as a crutch at all. I liked that he held the auto-tune box in his hand and used it like a guitar player would use a distortion pedal throughout the show. I know the effect at this point is almost a genre staple but the gigging musician in me appreciated the fact that it was treated like any other effects pedal on stage. His band leading ability is also great as the band seemed ready to follow him anywhere. His stage direction and communication were really solid and is a largely unseen skill more should be aware of. A real talent that’s heading somewhere big for sure.
Speaking of the band, I don’t even think I even have the right words for these guys, but I’ll still try. I got the invite tonight from their keyboard player Zach and was expecting good things since he’s already very impressive on his own, but I wasn’t expecting a flawless music machine made up of humans. Anything you hear in Chris’s songs, even things that might have originated from loops or machines, was played as recorded if not updated by the person playing. Forrest on drums was King Pocket all night and reminded me of one of my favorite YouTube drummers, ZackGrooves, being all smiles all night. Zach, even as a friend, was genuinely impressive as he did both jazzy-hip-hip keyboard and jazz-rap bass at the same time. The live horns were absolutely brilliant and the love on stage between everyone was obvious.
As I wrap this up, I suddenly feel like I might be the late one to the party, so if you’re finding out about Chris through this review it means you are too. Luckily for us both though, the party is definitely still going.
