Chicago-based drummer Gustavo Cortiñas brings his trio to Berlin this October.

Band Members:
Gustavo Cortiñas - Drums
Artie Black - Saxophone
Kitt Lyles - Bass

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Mexican-born and Chicago-based drummer, composer, and producer Gustavo Cortiñas has distinguished himself as a dynamic and melodic artist, committed to building empathy and understanding through music in times of border walls and reductive narratives. Described as “one of Chicago's most imaginative and exciting composers” (All About Jazz), Cortiñas makes music that is “bluesy and deeply felt ... sometimes raucous, sometimes solemn, but always drenched in emotion” (Modern Drummer).

Along with fellow master drummers Dave King and Isaiah Spencer, Cortiñas’ latest album The Drum Also Sings explores the emotional and spiritual resonance of rhythm through music that speaks to joy, grief, resilience, and renewal. Emerging from moments of introspection and uncertainty, the project approaches the drum not only as an instrument, but as a voice: one capable of carrying memory, prayer, ancestry, and transformation.

Cortiñas has become one of Chicago’s most sought-after drummers, performing and recording with Chuchito Valdés, Entre Amigos, Emily Kuhn, Javier Red’s Imagery Converter, Matt Peterson, Kitt Lyles, Erik Skov, Michael Hudson-Casanova, Roy McGrath, Kyle Madsen, Vladimir Cetkar, Sasha Bayan, Amos Gillespie, and the Carla Campopiano Trio. In 2025, he was inducted into the Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte in Mexico and was recognized as the “Chicagoan of the Year in Jazz 2025” by the Chicago Tribune.

[Cortiñas] fuses the melodic sensibilities of his ancestral Mexico with the complex syncopation of jazz.”
–All About Jazz

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Kitt Lyles is one of Chicago’s most distinctive bassists and composers. Born and raised in South Carolina, Lyles has cultivated an aesthetic that synthesizes his love for Southern roots music with imaginative contemporary jazz. Unafraid to channel romance and grit alike and unwilling to sacrifice the centrality of melody, Lyles draws out the bass’s most vocal personality. Through his lyrical compositional style, inspired by the musical lineage of Charles Mingus and Duke Ellington, he seeks to highlight his bandmates’ unique voices as well.

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Artie Black is a saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, and educator based in Chicago. He co-leads the group Black Diamond, an ensemble that has been actively performing and touring since 2012. Black can also be heard in groups led by bassist Matt Ulery, trumpeter Alexander Massa, guitarist Jeff Swanson, trombonist Luke Malevicz, drummer Greg Artry, and many others in Chicago’s creative music scene. His newest projects are a collaborative trio with bassist/vocalist Katie Ernst and guitarist Matt Gold and an apprenticeship and collaboration with Indian tabla master Sandip Burman.