Jazz Articles about Dave Rempis

About Dave Rempis

Album Review

Rempis/Parker/Flaten/Cunningham: Stringers & Struts

Read "Stringers & Struts" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
November 29, 2020

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 ...

Album Review

Ballister: Znachki Stilyag

Read "Znachki Stilyag" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
October 3, 2020

Although the title, composed of two unrelated Russian words chosen because they sounded good, doesn't have a meaning, the contents not only sound good but carry rather more weight. The high intensity free jazz trio Ballister comprises reedman Dave Rempis, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, three of the finest proponents on their instruments in this particular ballpark. For its ninth release the band selects three dynamite cuts, coming in at just under an hour, from a live date ...

Album Review

Rempis/Rosaly Duo: Codes/Myths

Read "Codes/Myths" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
May 23, 2020

The reprise of the Rempis/Rosaly Duo comes after many changes in the musicians' lives. Their first session Cyrillic (482 Music, 2009) was recorded when both musicians made Chicago their home. Dave Rempis, probably best known for his work in Vandermark 5 back in 2009, was putting together his own groups such as The Engines and The Rempis Percussion Quartet, the latter of which had Frank Rosaly as a member, and starting a label, Aerophonic Records. With Rosaly moving to Amsterdam ...

Album Review

Kuzu: Purple Dark Opal

Read "Purple Dark Opal" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
May 9, 2020

Hard as it is to believe, the wonderful Hiljaisuus (Aerophonic, 2019) documented the first encounter between Chicago reedman Dave Rempis, North Carolina-based Bhutanese guitarist Tashi Dorji and drummer Tyler Damon, under the banner Kuzu. On the basis of that triumph, the musicians put together a twenty-date US tour. For their follow up release, Purple Dark Opal, they selected a blistering set-long piece from the fifteenth stop on that road trip in Milwaukee. As it's just shy of an hour,so best ...

Album Review

From Wolves to Whales: Strandwal

Read "Strandwal" reviewed by Giuseppe Segala

by Giuseppe Segala
May 4, 2020

Il quartetto From Wolves to Whales, nome azzeccato per un significativo incontro di quattro personalità al vertice del jazz e dell'improvvisazione contemporanea, si era già proposto nel 2015 con il CD omonimo, dopo il rodaggio di tre concerti a Manhattan e a Brooklyn nel febbraio del 2014. Il sodalizio, imperniato sulla lunga frequentazione di Nate Wooley e Dave Rempis, aveva trovato nel prodigioso supporto di Pascal Niggenkemper e Chris Corsano l'ideale quadratura del gruppo. Se quella prima prova del quartetto ...

Album Review

Kuzu: Purple Dark Opal

Read "Purple Dark Opal" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
February 17, 2020

Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis has recorded thirty albums as a leader and more than another thirty as a sideman. Best known for his own Rempis Percussion Quartet and the Vandermark Five, the free jazz legend teams up with guitarist Tashi Dorji and drummer Tyler Damon, under the name Kuzu. Purple Dark Opal is their third release, following Hiljaisuus (Astral Spirits, 2018) and Lift To Drag (Medium Sound, 2019) which was only released on cassette. Dorji was raised in ...

Album Review

Kuzu: Purple Dark Opal

Read "Purple Dark Opal" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
January 30, 2020

Thank your lucky stars that Kuzu's previous disc Hiljaisuus (Aerophonic/Astral Spirits, 2019) was not a one-off meeting. That recording, their first concert together in 2017, inspired the trio to tour and explore their brand of free jazz. Purple Dark Opal, recorded live in Milwaukee in October 2018, found the trio in the midst of an extended concert tour. Documented here is proof they were indeed firing on all cylinders. “To The Quick" is a single, nearly hour-long track, ...