Young singer-songwriter Alyssa Allgood makes the Jazz Showcase Wall of Fame

Chicago Tribune

5 days ago

Alyssa Allgood started singing when she was in the sixth grade and she is singing still, as she was last weekend at Jazz Showcase, that South Loop treasure. She and her band — Greg Ward (alto sax), Ryan Cohan (piano), Ethan Philion (bass) and Jon Deitemyer (drums) — spread their music over four nights.
'It was very special. [Club owner] Wayne Segal hung my photo on the Wall of Fame Sunday night,' she said. 'There was a great turnout of warm and engaging audiences. I could feel the love in the room. My band brought such beautiful energy, sensitivity and joy to my original songs and arrangements. We created honest and open music that was truly in the moment, in every set.'
She now shares that aforementioned wall with some of her heroes, such as Betty Carter, Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae. And she can remember the many times she has played the room. One of the earliest was in July 2017. In the audience was my then-colleague, the astute Tribune jazz critic Howard Reich. He wrote that 'there's nothing more encouraging in jazz than hearing a young musician asserting herself. … Though she has plenty of room for growth, she clearly has learned a great deal quite early in her career.'
She was 24 then and had just released her first CD, 'Out of the Blue,' which Reich lauded for the 'creativity of her songwriting,' ending his review with these prophetic words, calling her 'a young singer of unusual accomplishment and extraordinary potential.'
The great singer Paul Marinaro had joined Allgood on stage for a couple of songs that night and then told Reich that Allgood was 'one of the most fully formed young vocalists I've heard in a long time.'
Allgood came to music early, growing up in suburban Westmont, supported and encouraged by her parents and allowed to sing with local bands.
'I never had a thought of doing anything else,' she says. 'When it came to what I would study in college, well, of course, it would be music.'
And it would be North Central College in Naperville where she earned Bachelor of Arts in Jazz Studies & Organizational Communication, and she followed that up with a Master of Arts in Jazz Studies from DePaul University.
'I learned so much. I learned from folks in the business that jazz does not make for the easiest life,' she says. 'I was told by more than one person, 'If you can see yourself doing anything else, do it.' But I could not do that. Music is who I am.'
She has performed in clubs across the country and aspires to international clubs and concerts. Now she has four CDs, the latest titled 'From Here,' with all original songs. If you want to be of the moment, her sensitively stirring version of Frank Loesser's 'I've Never Been in Love Before' from 'Guys and Dolls' is being released on various platforms this Friday.
Many singers, of course, do not write their own songs, but Allgood has been exploring that creative road for some time.
'I just decided that I had to give myself permission to try,' she says. 'At first, it was hard. In doing this, was I comparing myself to Cole Porter and other great songwriters, to the people I'd been hearing and singing and studying? But I kept at it, and followed a philosophy that another musician imparted. He said, 'Everything you write is good because it comes from you.''
Thus free of intimidation, she tells me that her songwriting is 'taking the forefront,' and you can hear the confidence in her latest CD.
She also plans to continue teaching, as she has done for some time, at Loyola University and the University of Illinois at Chicago. 'Teaching,' she says, 'makes me a better musician.'
Accolades have come at a steady pace. A couple of her songs were finalists in the 2023 John Lennon Songwriting Contest and the 2023 International Songwriting Competition. She was voted best individual jazz musician in the 2024 Chicago Reader poll. She was recently named, for the second year in a row, a 'Rising Star Female Vocalist' in the 2025 DownBeat Magazine Critics Poll.
She has lived for a decade in the Lincoln Square neighborhood and has been married since October to Jon Podulka.
'He is a very creative person who has brought a lot of adventure to my life,' she says.
He worked as an advertising copywriter for 10 years before becoming a narrative game designer at Hasbro. He recently went out on his own and will soon launch a board game publishing company. He also knows his way around a stage, regularly performing improv comedy.
'He always has a good joke ready,' Allgood says. 'He is incredibly supportive of my career and I love that we share a passion for the creative process.'
He was in the showcase audiences last weekend and she was glad.
'I realized that I grew up on that stage,' she says. 'This weekend felt like an important marker and celebration of the work I've done over the last decade, to hone my craft as a performer, songwriter, and bandleader. I'm so grateful and inspired.'
She remembered too.
'That night almost a decade ago. Joe Segal [Wayne Segal's late father and the founder of the Jazz Showcase] was there. He sat on the couch and listened to me sing and then gave me a nod of approval. That was a moment I will never forget.'
No doubt there will be more to come. Goodness, she's only 32.
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