Angelika Niescier: Chicago Tapes

Continuing to solidify her reputation as a double-threat composer and improviser, alto saxophonist Angelika Niescier shines once again with Chicago Tapes, a superlative effort which sees her uniting with a number of the leading figures in the Windy City scene. The results are consistently riveting, showcasing these musicians in myriad ways and generating infectious synergy throughout.

Niescier thrives in small-combo configurations, as she demonstrated convincingly on earlier outings like Beyond Dragons (Intakt, 2023) with cellist Tomeka Reid and drummer Savannah Harris or NYC Five (Intakt, 2016), a marvelous quintet effort with pianist Florian Weber, trumpeter Ralph Alessi, bassist Chris Tordini and drummer Tyshawn Sorey. Here she creates two basic groupings with her top-shelf Chicago partners. One comprises saxophonist Dave Rempis, vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz and drummer Mike Reed alongside Niescier, while the other sees flutist Nicole Mitchell and bassist Luke Stewart teaming with Niescier and Reed. Regardless of the particulars, however, all five of Niescier's associates have the creativity and expert chops required to serve her crafty purposes on the album's nine well-constructed tracks.

It becomes clear from the opening cut, the feisty and spirited "Rejoice, Disrupt, Resist," that Niescier has a terrific ally in Rempis, whose tempestuous cries are equaled by Niescier's own furious energy. The two of them diverge and converge gloriously as Adasiewicz adroitly complements the conversation, with Reed keeping the maniacal groove going. This foursome gets a number of memorable moments on the record, sometimes with less volcanic results. "Ext. 17" sees Adasiewicz and Reed providing color rather than firepower underneath Niescier and Rempis' expansive exchanges, while "Fluxed" has a dusky quality that illuminates the tender side of both saxophonists, with a bluesy undercurrent to Rempis' playing that is especially compelling.

The other principal unit on the album has Mitchell front-and-center, as on the vivacious bounce of "SAMO (bsqt)," in which Stewart and Reed lock in to support the flutist's emphatic shrieks and exclamations, with Niescier matching her intensity from start to finish. Mitchell's well-utilized electronic effects add a spacey feel to the last portion of the track, as they do on "E Randoph Street," the album's superb closer. And although at three minutes in length it seems too brief, "Poranek" features some absolutely ferocious mutual improvisation between Mitchell and Niescier, their rapport just as evident as that between Niescier and Rempis.

Either of these groups could have made an outstanding record on its own. The fact that Niescier has assembled both of them for this release, integrating them with a unity of vision and purpose while allowing their distinctive strengths to emerge so clearly, is a remarkable accomplishment, and proof that Niescier is at the top of her game.