Chris J. Parker — Building Bridges Book Release Party at Lange's
Sunday, February 22, 2026
4:00 – 6:00 PM
Lange’s
3500 N. Southport Ave.
Chicago, IL 60657
773-472-6030
— No Cover Charge —
BUILDING BRIDGES - A Memoir
From Chicago’s South Side to the Boardroom
by Chris J. Parker
Chicago-born author Chris J. Parker will celebrate the release of his debut memoir, Building Bridges with a special reading and musical performance on Sunday, February 22, 2026, at Lange’s—the neighborhood bar on the Southport corridor.
The event will feature Parker reading excerpts from the book, alongside live music by his brother, pianist Bradley Parker-Sparrow, and acclaimed Chicago vocalist Joanie Pallatto for an intimate afternoon of storytelling, music, and conversation.
Just Added!
Join Chris J. Parker at Jimmy’s Woodlawn Tap in Hyde Park for a neighborhood book signing February 21st at 5pm. Come by, say hello, grab a drink, and pick up a signed copy.
1172 E 55th St, Chicago, IL, 60615 / 773-643-5516
About the Book
Building Bridges is a deeply personal, Chicago-rooted memoir about identity, resilience, and learning how to move between worlds.Raised on Chicago’s South Side by a Black father and a white mother navigating mental illness, Parker reflects on community, belonging, and the quiet skills we learn early in life to survive and move forward.
Those early lessons carried him from childhood uncertainty to careers spanningstartups and global technology companies—while continually returning to questions offamily, place, legacy, and self-acceptance. At once intimate and expansive, BuildingBridges is a story about Chicago, movement, and becoming whole—without leavingwhere you come from behind.
The event is free and open to the public!
Book Information
Building Bridges – A Memoir
by Chris J. Parker
Official book release: February 20, 2026
Available at
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookBaby
Released in celebration of Black History Month
Author website:
Southport Records A Brief History
The Southport Records Story....
"Southport Records prides itself on taking risks" Neil Tesser, The New York Times
Southport Records is a Chicago based record label and division of Sparrow Sound Design Recording Studio, founded in 1977.
Bradley Parker-Sparrow is a prolific pianist, composer, producer, recording engineer and label owner. He co-owns Southport Records with his partner and wife, singer/composer/producer/engineer Joanie Pallatto.
In 1977, at the age of 23, Sparrow established Sparrow Sound Design Recording Studio, where many artists have recorded since, including The Art Ensemble of Chicago,Yusef Lateef, and Richie Cole. In 1979 he opened his own recording label, Sparrow Sound Design Records, which is dedicated to documenting Chicago's versatile and fruitful jazz scene. Sparrow Sound Design was one of the first minority/musician run and owned recording studios in the United States, recording numerous artists and labels that include AECO Records, Concord Jazz, Flying Fish, Universal, SteepleChase and Delmark Records. To this date Sparrow Sound Design recording studio has one of the largest collection of vintage Neumann and AKG tube microphones in the world.
In 1982 Sparrow married singer Joanie Pallatto (she joined the Sparrow band!) Together they moved Sparrow Sound Design from North Dayton street to 3501 N. Southport in Chicago, re-branding the record label "Southport Records."
Southport Records is one of the first musician/minority/female owned Record labels in the United States with over 150 LP's, cassettes, CDs and films in print. The focus has been new music from Chicago. This includes all forms of Jazz, Latin, Blues, Modern Classical-New Music and Ethnic.
Artists on the Southport Records label include:
Bob Acri-April Aloisio-Fred Anderson-Tatsu Aoki-Eden Atwood-Bruce Bendinger-Don Bennett-Alexandra Billings-Joel Brandon-Wagner Campos-Rich Cantú-Francesco Crosara-Katherine Davis-Eugenia Elliott-Josie Falbo-Mark Fechner-Roderick Ferguson-Harold Fethe-King Fleming-David Flippo-George Flynn-Chico Freeman-George Freeman-Von Freeman-Paulinho Garcia-Dave Gordon-Scott Holman-Darling Instigatah-Joseph Jarman-Carlos Johnson-Beaky Johnston-Ken Karlson-Phil Kidder-Neil Kristie-Elijah Levi-Bobby Lewis-Martha Lorin-Malachi Favors Maghostut-John E. Magnan-Michael Mason-Susan May-Corky McClerkin-Dan McIntyre-Marie Michuda-Miss Midori-Ilhan Mimaroglu-Janice Misurell-Mitchell-Roscoe Mitchell-Christiana Moffa-Famoudou Don Moye-Tim O'Dell-Dave Onderdonk-Joanie Pallatto-John Paris-Dave Pavkovic-Willie Pickens-Frank Portolese-Hal Russell-Rob Ryndak-Paul Scea-Bobby
Schiff-Damon Short-Bradley Parker-Sparrow-Ron Surace-Linda Tate-Andy Tecson-Steve Thomas-TV Pow-Tomas De Utrera-Marshall Vente-Mark Walker-Kurt Westerberg-Enoch Williamson-Francis Wong-Libby York-Max Zbiral-Teller; and guest artists Mike Allemana, Ruben Alvarez, Billy Branch, John Devlin, Bob Dorough, Luiz Ewerling, Fareed Haque, Redd Holt, Howard Levy, Alejo Poveda and Eldee Young.
With Music, Bradley Parker-Sparrow and Joanie Pallatto, Partners/Southport Records
Southport Records was founded in Chicago in 1977 as an independent voice for new music from Chicago to a world audience. There are over 148 projects in print.
Real Jazz Made In Chicago – Real Music Made In Chicago
Southport Records celebrates the documentation of recording Chicago artists for the past forty-six years!
Sparrow Sound Design (1977 - 2025)