Living With Tollways: Eponymously Titled

Living With Tollways emerged from Chicago's South Side music scene, where multi-instrumentalist and educator Matt Riggen has spent years mentoring young players through improvisation and open collaboration. The chord-less trio—Riggen on double bass, Randy Trubitt on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, and Kevin Almazan on drums—draws directly from that environment. Their debut, Eponymously Titled, distills years of shared trust into eight tracks. Less a formal statement than a candid snapshot, this is music made by people who know each other well, and that solidarity and mutual understanding come through at every turn.

Without chords to lean on, the group works in a lean, conversational space that recalls the raw spirit of Ornette Coleman and the elastic phrasing of Sonny Rollins. Trubitt's tenor carries bold, swinging authority riddled with rhythmic surprises. On bass clarinet, he goes shadowy and exploratory, reaching toward extended techniques associated with players like David Murray. Riggen and Almazan anchor everything with supple, textural propulsion rooted in Chicago's improvising tradition—loose but purposeful, turning potential emptiness into real estate.

The album covers wide emotional ground without losing the thread. Opener "Waller Em" sets a cinematic tone, drifting from dusty open space into knotty, hard—edged collective blowing, lightened by Riggen's extended solos at the launch and bridge. Trubitt's "News From Home" and "California Obscura" settle into hazy introspection, punctuated by stammering free-jazz breakouts often tinted by the saxophonist's tuneful habit of expanding primary themes with subdued panache. "Stellar Nurseries" builds intricate frameworks that still manage to breathe, and "Garbage Fire of Innuendo" flirts with distortion-tinged urgency—grunge grit without abandoning jazz footing. The closing collective piece, "Eponymously Titled," sums it up well: three musicians trading ideas with complete mutual trust, treating structure as suggestion rather than rule.

The record carries an undercurrent of intentional playfulness. It never takes itself too seriously, even when reaching for ambitious textures—cinematic sweep, and hints of rock, all merging without feeling calculated. In a crowded field of jazz releases chasing novelty, this trio offers something more honest and lived-in. It's the kind of debut that leaves you curious about what comes next.