Jazz Articles
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Ballister: Smash and Grab
by Mark Corroto
A listener might have a premonition when they drop the needle on the hot pink vinyl version or push the play button on the CD or digital download of Smash And Grab by the trio Ballister. They understand, or have knowledge by way of the trio's ten previous releases, that a storm awaits them. The trio of saxophonist Dave Rempis, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love conjure a tempest of sound that simply refuses to become background music.
read moreRempis Percussion Quartet: Harvesters
by Mark Corroto
A couple quotes from the 1980s' film The Blues Brothers starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd seem appropriate for Harvesters, the double album by The Rempis Percussion Quartet. Elwood Blues: “It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark... and we're wearing sunglasses." Jake Blues: “Hit It...we're on a mission from God... we're getting the band back together." In all actuality, the Chicago residents, saxophonist Dave Rempis and ...
read moreRempis / Abrams / Ra + Jim Baker: Scylla
by Mark Corroto
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 ...
read moreDave Rempis / Elizabeth Harnik / Michael Zerang: Astragaloi
by Mark Corroto
Sometimes listening to free improvisational music is, truth be told, an act of social anthropology. Who is making music? How is the combination of individual instruments configured? Where are the musicians from? Maybe more significant, how has this musical society developed? Astragaloi from the trio of Dave Rempis, Elizabeth Harnik, and Michael Zerang could be a perfect study for scholars. It is Chicago (Rempis and Zerang) meets Graz, Austria (Harnik), but maybe more important, it is the evolution of the ...
read moreDave Rempis' Percussion Quartet: Sud Des Alpes
by John Sharpe
Recorded live in Geneva during the group's 15th Anniversary tour, Sud Des Alpes is the tenth outing from Chicago-based saxophonist Dave Rempis' Percussion Quartet. The band is one of his longest established outlets, boasting a consistent membership, with the drum stools occupied by Tim Daisy and Frank Rosaly since the first album in 2005, and just one bassist prior to current incumbent Ingebrigt Håker Flaten. More to the point, they continue to find new avenues to explore within their preferred ...
read moreDave Rempis: The Covid Tapes
by John Sharpe
Like many during the pandemic, Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis turned to novel outlets for his artistic expression. Some fine examples of that output are captured on the double album The Covid Tapes, which pleasingly alternates six unaccompanied performances from the practice room (of between 3 and 7 minutes), with four outdoor live outings (of between 16 and 22 minutes) in trio or duet with a range of regular Windy City collaborators, dating from May to September 2020. ...
read moreKUZU: All Your Ghosts In One Corner
by Mark Corroto
The edge in which the trio Kuzu lays down the five live tracks on All Your Ghosts In One Corner is sharpened by an impending sense of foreboding that accompanied (and still accompanies) the COVID-19 pandemic. Recorded at the end of a tour in March 2020, on the eve of our social isolation with clubs and concert venues soon shuttered, the trio delivers a truly Herculean set of music. Formed in 2017, Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis invited the ...
read moreThe Rempis Percussion Quartet: Sud Des Alpes
by Mark Corroto
Sometimes a band hits a stretch, much like an athlete with a hot hand, and produces a string of special recordings. Sud Des Alpes is The Rempis Percussion Quartet's tenth release and it follows Cochonnerie (Aerophonic, 2017). Like all the quartet's releases except Montreal Parade (482 Music, 2011), it captures a live performance. This at AMR in Geneva, Switzerland in 2019 as part of a European tour and the unit's fifteenth anniversary. Little has changed, except for the replacement of ...
read moreDave Rempis: Stringers & Struts
by John Sharpe
Chicago-based reedman Dave Rempis has hit such a peak of consistency that the number of stars awarded to any particular outing is more down to personal preference than any variation in quality. He's in control of his own destiny as most of his output flows from his own Aerophonic imprint. And he's achieved another high point with Stringers And Struts, the result of a one-off gathering of Windy City improvisers in town for the 2019 Chicago Jazz Fest, which makes ...
read moreRempis/Parker/Flaten/Cunningham: Stringers & Struts
by Mark Corroto
Imagine if the listener could choose bands or combinations of musicians like a fantasy football game. They would compile discographies and note when certain players crossed paths, or imagine new combinations of dissimilar styles. This is obviously not an original idea because Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis has been drafting varying combinations of talented players for more than a decade. The majority of his fantasy leagues can be heard at Elastic Arts where he curates a weekly series, at the Hyde ...
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