Mars Williams was a legend of the Chicago music world for decades, a musician and bandleader whose impact stretched across the globe. To celebrate what would have been Mars’ 70th birthday on May 29, and to launch the Mars Williams Archive now being hosted at Experimental Sound Studio, musicians in the community are coming together for a series of public events.

Sunday, May 25: @ May Chapel | 2 pm
5800 N. Ravenswood in Rosehill Cemetery

Mars Williams’ Toy Story
A new composition for the Mars Williams musical toy collection by Lia Kohl

FREE

For this afternoon’s concert, cellist and composer Lia Kohl becomes the first to compose a piece for Mars Williams’ collection of musical toys - a regular part of his broad performance arsenal.  Mars always dubbed this his Toy Story.  As part of the process of archiving Mars’ extensive collection of recordings, Experimental Sound Studio has also recorded and photographed each of these toys to make them available online for anyone around the world to explore and work with!

Join us down the street after the concert at ESS from 3-5pm to explore the Mars Williams Collection.

Additional events in the Music from Mars weekend take place May 24th at Constellation and Hungry Brain; check their calendars for details.