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Chicago Underground Quartet: Good Days
by Karl Ackermann
Of the many Rob Mazurek led groups, his Chicago Underground collective has been the most prolific and adventurous cooperative with seven duo outings and another four trio releases. The quartet version of Chicago Underground, like the 1998 “Orchestra" formation, had issued only one album, the self-titled debut on the Thrill Jockey label in 2001. A one-off quartet project (Chicago/London Underground) A Night Walking Through Mirrors (Cuneiform Records, 2017) featured Mazurek, drummer Chad Taylor, British pianist Alexander Hawkins, and bassist John ...
Continue ReadingTom Abbs & Frequency Response: Hawthorne
by Karl Ackermann
Bassist and multi-instrumentalist Tom Abbs began his Frequency Response series in 2003 with Conscription (CIMP Records). The group--then a quartet--included tenor saxophonist Brian Settles and drummer Chad Taylor. Alto saxophonist Jason Candler, violinists Jean Cook and Jenna Barvitski are later additions to Frequency Response. On their long-awaited fourth album Hawthorne, Abbs again stands in as a one-man orchestra, playing bass, cello, piano, and tuba. Abbs, primarily known as a free improvisational bassist is also an accomplished filmmaker, having ...
Continue ReadingTom Abbs & Frequency Response: Hawthorne
by Don Phipps
On his album Hawthorne, Brooklyn-based Tom Abbs showcases his mastery of several instruments and writing styles. Combining free, hard bop, world, and blues styles, Abbs's compositions juxtapose explosive exposés of new music with idioms that hearken back to ancient times. Abbs is joined by Jean Cook and Jenna Barvitski on violin, Brian Settles on tenor, Chad Taylor on drums, and Jason Candler on bass clarinet and alto sax. Abbs handles the chores on bass, tuba, piano, and cello. ...
Continue ReadingChad Taylor: Myths and Morals
by Jakob Baekgaard
In the beginning of it all: one sound, one language, but then there was the fall of Babel. One tongue turned into many. Difference became a reality and a way of exclusion. A myth can both unite and exclude like morality can judge and misjudge. The past becomes separated from the present and the future is already on the horizon. How can one find a way back to that unity of space, music as the beating heart, the breathing lungs? ...
Continue ReadingChad Taylor: Myths and Music Education
by Jakob Baekgaard
Few drummers know how to use rhythms like Chad Taylor. He makes the drum set sing melodies and paints different hues and shades on the cymbals and skins. He can play inside and outside and has performed with musicians like saxophonists Fred Anderson, Pharoah Sanders and James Brandon Lewis, pianists Cooper-Moore and Angelica Sanchez, guitarists Jeff Parker and Marc Ribot, bassist Joshua Abrams and trumpeter Rob Mazurek, just to name a few. Back in 2009, Taylor released Circle ...
Continue ReadingChad Taylor: Circle Down
by Troy Collins
In-demand indie rock session player (Sam Prekop, Iron and Wine) and co-founder of the Chicago Underground with Rob Mazurek, drummer Chad Taylor has quickly become an indispensable part of the New York scene since his relocation from Chicago in 2000. His recurrent collaborations with Cooper-Moore, Jemeel Moondoc, and Marc Ribot feature his talents in a wide variety of settings, but none quite as dynamic as the ensemble documented on Circle Down, the debut of his trio with pianist Angelica Sanchez ...
Continue ReadingChad Taylor: Circle Down
by Mark F. Turner
With an insatiable appetite for music on the fringe, drummer Chad Taylor has been an active participant in the creative music environments of both Chicago and New York. In Chicago, he's been a member of Fred Anderson's trio, Sticks and Stones with Matana Roberts, and the Chicago Underground ensembles with Rob Mazurek. In New York, he's performed with Digital Primitives, known for its visceral abstract funk, as well as with Marc Ribot's Spiritual Unity. Taylor, who was ...
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