Extraordinary Popular Delusions (EPD) is a group of musicians playing music in a genre that mostly eludes the attention of large audiences:  so, perhaps the most puzzling thing about this group, might be how and why they have managed to have a regular weekly performance at a well-known Chicago rock venue, for almost fifteen (15) years.  Notwithstanding conjectures that the purpose of the group’s performances actually involves generating audio datasets for use as training materials for Artificial Intelligence systems, there is, nonetheless, a small, arguably growing, human audience for EPD’s music; and the group also does seem to act as though they are playing music for humans; some of whom have attended multiple EPD performances.  How to explain?

Sadly—or comically—there may be no explanation.  Many aspects of life are sometimes absurd.

Howard Mandel, writing in the Chicago Reader, said  "the members of Extraordinary Popular Delusions bring vast and varied experience to this underappreciated ensemble's regular weekly shows which follow no rules but their own."   The group has, to date, two commercially-released recordings (and, additionally, two affiliated groups, “Madness of Crowds”, and “WiHuBa”, also have recordings); but on the even chance that you, dear reader, might not have heard any of these, but might nonetheless have some curiosity about the nature of whatever would likely be performed at Hunt House on Saturday evening, here is some information about the expected participants.

Jim Baker has been playing piano and synthesizer in and around Chicago and the world for a few decades, mostly in improvisational contexts. He has previously played in groups with Ken Vandermark, Fred Anderson, Michael Zerang, Dave Rempis, Keefe Jackson, Charles Rumback, Rob Mazurek, David Boykin, and many others.  His work has been documented on more than eighty commercially released recordings, including recent and/or forthcoming work with Extraordinary Popular Delusions; Rempis/Abrams/Ra+Baker; Charles Rumback; Brandon Lopez and Bill Harris; WiHuBa (Wilkerson, Hunt, Baker); Luke Stewart’s Exposure Quintet (with Wilkerson, Vandermark, and Ra); Junius Paul; Jackson/Baker/Kirshner; Madness of Crowds (with Brian Sandstrom, Matt Lux, Nate Lepine, and Joe Adamik), and many others. For a number of years in the 90s, Baker was the house pianist for the weekly Sunday evening jam sessions at Fred Anderson’s Velvet Lounge. For most of the last fifteen years, he has been playing most Mondays at Beat Kitchen with free-improvisation group Extraordinary Popular Delusions.

Edward L. Wilkerson Jr. (born July 27, 1953 in Terre Haute, Indiana) is an internationally recognized American jazz composer, arranger, musician, and educator based in Chicago. As founder and director of the cutting-edge octet 8 Bold Souls, and the 25-member performance ensemble Shadow Vignettes, Wilkerson has toured festivals and concert halls throughout the United States, Europe, Japan, and the Middle East. "Defender", a large-scale piece for Shadow Vignettes, was commissioned by the Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest Fund and featured in the 10th Anniversary of New Music America, a presentation of BAM's Next Wave Festival. His music can be heard on 14 recordings, including two film soundtracks and the critically acclaimed albums Birth of a Notion, and 8 Bold Souls, both on his own Sessoms Records label. 

Bassist/Guitarist Brian Sandstrom was born and raised in Rockford, Illinois. He learned jazz and blues roots there before embarking on studies in contemporary classical and jazz bass at SIU (BFA, 1978). He subsequently made Chicago his home from 1979 through 2019. He began embarking on musical tours to Canada and Europe starting in 1988. He has recorded with numerous contemporary performers and educators (John Roothaan, Ed Petersen, Frank Portolese) and jazz legends (Von Freeman, Hal Russell, Frank Catalano). He is a regular member of the NRG Ensemble, Extraordinary Popular Delusions, Witches and Devils and the Green Mill all-stars. He is continually looking for the "new thing".

Drummer Steve Hunt has been active in the Chicago music scene since 1980 when he became a member of the Hal Russell NRG Ensemble. They toured nationally and internationally beginning in 1988 and released six recordings (on Nessa, Abduction, Principally Jazz, and ECM) before Hal's passing in 1992. With the addition of Ken Vandermark, the NRG Ensemble continued touring internationally and released three recordings (on Quinnah, Atavistic and Delmark), with a forthcoming release expected later this year featuring a live performance from 1997 in Utrecht. Among other groups, he has played on a mostly weekly basis with Extraordinary Popular Delusions since 2005, releasing two recordings (Harmonic Convergence and Okkadisk) which include Mars Williams on saxophones. He is also the drummer for Witches and Devils, led by Mars Williams, who have released five recordings (Knitting Factory, Soul What Records, Astral Spirits) four of which are An Ayler Christmas which feature arrangements by Mars Williams of the music of Albert Ayler and Christmas music. Additionally, he is a member of WiHuBa which includeds Edward Wilkerson, Jr. and Jim Baker. The trio is featured on one self-released recording "Live at the Owl", recorded in 2018.