The dark confines of the Green Mill are superb for winding down after the week’s first day of work. Sit back and watch one of the city’s most impressive guitarists, Joel Paterson, masterfully flick his Epiphone’s strings to conjure slinky melodies — from Benny Goodman to the Beatles — before switching to the plaintive crying of his pedal steel guitar. His weekly show at this Uptown institution runs from 8 p.m. to midnight, but the final minutes are when you’ll hear lovely lullabies like “Mr. Sandman.” As Paterson remarked during one recent show, “We need you late-night people.” 4802 N. Broadway greenmilljazz.com
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