Gertrude Abercrombie was a fervent listener of jazz and organized regular jam sessions at her home in Hyde Park, Chicago. This playlist combines the jazz she loved and songs with themes that are found in her work and life. Some tracks feature Abercrombie’s jazz friends, legendary figures like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Marian McPartland, and Sonny Rollins (the latter of whom was an especially close pal); other jazz selections, including ones by Baby Face Willette, Gene Ammons, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago, draw from the teeming local scene during the prime time of Abercrombie’s work, from the 1950s-70s. Dinah Washington is included in recognition Abercrombie’s daughter Dinah, who she named after the star singer; the piece “Gertrude’s Bounce” was written by pianist Richie Powell for Max Roach and Clifford Brown as a description of Abercrombie’s peculiar way of walking. Some of the painter’s main themes to which songs here allude include: black cats, owls, leafless trees, and dreams, while other selections celebrate themes of alterity and strangeness, in recognition of the uncanny quality of Abercrombie’s eccentric and wondrous little paintings.

This playlist is created by writer, curator and producer John Corbett. He co-owns Corbett vs. Dempsey, an art gallery and record label in Chicago.