The Standard Mix Quartet

Tuesday March 10, 2026 7pm

Akar Auditorium, 2715 Hurd Ave Evanston

Chuck Webb
Damian Espinosa
Cliff Wallace
Donovan Mixon

Chuck Webb is a first-call electric and acoustic bassist with a career spanning international touring, recording, and composition. He has performed worldwide with legendary artists including Aretha Franklin, Ramsey Lewis, David Sanborn, Al DiMeola, Grover Washington Jr., and Freddie Hubbard, and is widely regarded as one of Chicago’s premier studio bassists, appearing on hundreds of recordings, film soundtracks, and national commercial campaigns.

A versatile writer and producer, Webb has released a solo album, composed music for film and television, and created the critically acclaimed educational programs Mind Games and Multiply This, used nationally and abroad. His work reflects a deep commitment to musical excellence across jazz, R&B, contemporary, and popular styles, both on stage and in the studio.

Damian Espinosa is a critically-acclaimed pianist and composer living in Elmhurst, IL. He grew up in Albuquerque, NM and started playing piano at the age of seven. He spent his formative years studying classical piano and playing in rock bands. Damian studied music at Creighton University and received a BA in Classical Piano Performance. He continued his studies at the University of New Mexico, earning a Master’s Degree in Music Theory and Composition. In 2000, Damian moved to Chicago to pursue further graduate studies in music theory at the University of Chicago. At the same time, he started playing piano on the local jazz scene. He has since collaborated, performed and recorded with some of the city’s most creative and versatile musicians, most notably as a member of the Chris Greene Quartet. As a performer, Damian is an in-demand accompanist for singers and instrumentalists and can be seen with many diQerent groups and across many diQerent genres. He has also taught collegiate courses in music appreciation, music theory, and continues to teach private piano lessons in Elmhurst.

A native of Fort Wayne, Indiana,
Clif Wallace claims home to more than a few locations between the Midwest, South, and East Coast regions. This may, in part, explain his versatility not only as a drummer, but also as a composer, bandleader, and DJ.

His versatility and love for music have afforded him the opportunity to perform in many jazz clubs, festival stages, and theatres. Clif leads a host of bands, blending new and original compositions with hip arrangements of music that he pairs with nostalgic events from his personal life.

Recently, Clif Wallace has toured with saxophonist and clarinetist Victor Goines and vocalist Tammy McCann. He has also performed with a host of distinguished artists including Ken Cheney, Pharez Whitted, Rob Dixon, The Chicago Jazz Orchestra, Rodney Whitaker, Bola Cala Conde, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Diego Rivera, Gary Bartz, Robert Irving III, Black Ensemble Theater, Marquis Hill, Dan Trudell, John Brown, and Orbert Davis, among many others.

In 2018, Clif assembled an ensemble of peers whom he considers to be some of Chicago’s finest musicians across musical textures. Appropriately named the Clif Wallace Big Band, this ensemble performs a repertoire that caters to virtually any listener.

Now residing in Chicago, Illinois, Clif Wallace has become one of the city’s most in-demand drummers across multiple musical genres.

Your host Donovan Mixon anticipates this to be a dynamic evening of unique takes on some famous standards as well as original compositions by all members of the quartet.

Our visual artist this month–

Robyn McMurray Hurtig is pleased to share her work and invites viewers to explore the images at their leisure. Inquiries are welcome.

Coming from a line of women painters, she considers it an honor to continue that legacy as an abstract expressionist with a sustained interest in nature, travel, and the colors and textures encountered in daily life. Observations of shifting shapes and hues inform her visual language and are intuitively integrated into her compositions.

She works primarily in acrylic and collage, often incorporating pastel, watercolor, oil, and other media as the painting requires. Her process is guided by attentive responsiveness; she approaches each work as a dialogue, allowing the piece to develop through careful listening rather than imposing a predetermined outcome. Trust in process, rather than fixation on results, remains central to her practice.

For the past sixteen years, she has devoted herself to painting and continued study, steadily refining and expanding her craft. Her work has been exhibited in local art shows and placed through commissions, art fairs, and private sales.

Art remains a sustaining force in her life, and she welcomes your interest.