Joanie Pallatto and Bradley Parker-Sparrow

Vocalist and songwriter Joanie Pallatto and pianist-composer Bradley Parker-Sparrow claim Chicago as their home.Their life in music has blossomed over the decades, along with their marriage. As co-owners of Southport Records and producers and engineers at Sparrow Sound Design Recording Studio, together they have released over 156 recordings since 1977 - mostly of jazz artists, along with cabaret performers and contemporary classical composers.

Described by Rick Kogan of the Chicago Tribune as having “a stirring and special voice,” Singer/Songwriter Joanie Pallatto has a history of 42 years as one of Chicago's leading studio voices, an independent artist with 14 albums as a leader/co-leader, and Southport Records co-chair responsible for 100's of recordings of otherwise little-documented local musical artists. Pallatto's recent CD releases include "My Original Plan" and "Accidental Melody."

Pallatto received a Lifetime Achievement Award for Extraordinary Contributions to the Music Industry from the Chicago Music Awards (2021). Together, Pallatto and Parker-Sparrow received the "Chicago Heroes Award" in 2016, given by the Jazz Journalists Association. It is one of the highlights of their combined careers.

About Emma Blau:

Emma Blau, “Tromblau,” is a Chicago-based trombonist, composer, DJ, and Jewish educator born and raised in New York City. She graduated from The Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University where she studied under Vincent Gardener and Tom Garling. In May 2022, she created Tromblau & Friends, a collective playing her original compositions inspired by Black American music and Jewish music and liturgy (avodah). Her compositions combine freedom, prayer, and play to create alternate realities that seek to protest the mundanity of oppression and suppression.

Tromblau & Friends performs regularly and is featured among many venues across the Chicagoland area, including renowned Marvin Tate’s Y Theater. In 2024, she was the Music Director for Chicago Tap Theater’s production For All We Know, choreographed by Sterling Harris. Alongside food justice organizer and DJ Nick Davis, aka nick2bomb, Blau also cohosts a jam session, “The Playdate,” where attendees are encouraged to access their imagination through jazz, house, disco, and hip-hop. She has performed with musicians such as Rob Mazurek, William Parker, Teddy Campbell, and Shenel Johns in venues such as Birdland and Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola in New York and Oliver’s Jazz Bar in London.