Klobas, Storrs, Hundemer: In the Room (2002)

Dan McClenaghan

Senior Contributor since 2002

A lover of sounds, and the way they fit together.

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Published: August 2, 2002

'The Room' is percussionist Dave Storrs'studio/garage, a no-frills recording mecca in, of all places, Corvallis, Oregon; where Storrs' and various musical units get together to create spontaneous sounds for the CDs of Louie Records. And since it's Dave's studio, and there is no middleman corporate guy trying to reign things in, you get the undiluted stuff.

That's what In the Room is: pure, unfettered musical creation: Dave Storrs and Mike Klobas on the drum sets, Page Hundemer on electric bass. An approach that, on the surface, might seem to have limited possibities. But Storrs is the most joyously inventive drummer you've never heard of; and the outfits he leads are a bunch of top gun musicians out of the northwest that climb into the garage cockpits and fly by the seat of their pants, with elegance and audacity and a high energy spontaneous glee.

In the Room , even with the pared-down two drummer/bass line-up, has a complex, intricately textured feel to it. Storrs is a man who has found his niche, a rapturous percussionist, an occasional manic scatter (like Monk, on the Blue Note '40s recordings), a man possessed of a symphony of tintinabular sounds; a man who plays with a joyful abandon, and exhorts his mates to do the same.

Hundemer's bass goes beyond the expected low end confines of the instument, creating a range of sounds: washes of sustained notes and high end stumming that is nearly guitar-like in its approach between the poly-rhythms of his band-mates.

For those with open musical minds and an interest in free/spontaneous jazz, the entire Louie catalog is worth looking up; and most of it, depending on ones tastes in the intrumental mix—brass, reeds, complex percussion soundscapes—is must-have stuff, the most intersting, vibrant, adventurous label out there.

louierec@peak.org

Track Listing: Who's Doing What to Whom, Moving Away, Where to, The Whip, Fast Number Seven, Lincoln Logs, Breathe, Warped and Reggaed, In the Room, Chasing Something, They Returned Home Safely, Slow Dry, Quiet Burn

Personnel: Dave Storrs, drum set, voice; Mike Klobas, drum set; Page Hundemer, bass

Record Label: Louie Records
Style: Modern Jazz