Jazz Articles about Jim Baker

Jim Baker / Steve Hunt / Jakob Heinemann: Horizon Scanners

by Glenn Astarita
April 19, 2024

In jazz and improvisational music, the Chicago scene has long been a fertile ground for innovative soundscapes and daring musical ventures. Horizon Scanners, the latest offering from the captivating Chicagoan piano trio of Jim Baker, Steve Hunt and Jakob Heinemann, stands as a testament to this rich musical tradition. It invites listeners on an enthralling journey through sound, emotion and exploration. As the album evolves, it delves into angular, deeply exploratory soundscapes. Thus, Baker's dexterous harmonic variations blend seamlessly with ...

Rempis / Abrams / Ra + Jim Baker: Scylla

by Mark Corroto
October 13, 2022

Avreeayl Ra sets the tone for this entire live set as his voice and mbira open Scylla, “this is for all the survivors." According to Greek mythology Scylla was a beautiful woman who turned into a monster with four eyes and six long snaky necks with heads, each containing three rows of shark's teeth and 12 tentacle legs plus six dog's heads wrapped her waist. Recorded deep into the Covid-19 pandemic, in July 2021, at Chicago's Elastic Arts, one would ...

Jim Baker: More Questions Than Answers

by Germein Linares
November 17, 2005

A constantly introspective and inquisitive sound haunts More Questions Than Answers, Jim Baker's aptly titled solo debut. Baker is a Chicago-based musician who often ventures out with like-minded improvisers on projects like Ken Vandermark's Caffeine and Cornelius Cardew's Treatise. Here, Baker is left to his own devices, forging an interesting path for ten piano pieces and three synthesizer interludes.

Most of the offerings are a brief three to four minutes in length, with the acoustic pieces probing about ...

Jim Baker: More Questions Than Answers

by Mark Corroto
April 8, 2005

The liner notes to Jim Baker's first Delmark release are full of apologies. He writes that maybe he should have done an ensemble session with some of the musicians he has been working with lately, like Kent Kessler, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Michael Zerang, Josh Abrams, Steve Hunt, Brian Sandstrom, or Avreeyal Ra. He thinks these “free improvisations" might not be “entirely free from tune-like influence and says, “If I were to do another one of these solo recordings, maybe I would ...