Home » Jazz Musicians » Hanging Hearts

Hanging Hearts

HANGING HEARTS IS:Chris Weller - tenor saxophoneCole DeGenova - keyboards, synth bassQuin Kirchner - drums, percussionRooted in Chicago’s rich tradition of forward-thinking jazz and experimental music, Hanging Hearts is a progressive trio that thrives at the intersection of energy, groove, and improvisation. Led by saxophonist Chris Weller and featuring Cole DeGenova on keyboards and synth bass alongside Quin Kirchner on drums, the band channels the city’s history of musical innovation. Melding jazz with rock intensity, electronic textures, and avant-garde sensibilities, Hanging Hearts embodies the genre-blurring ethos that has long defined Chicago’s creative music scene.Whether drawing from post-bop, punk, free jazz, or electronic minimalism, Hanging Hearts delivers music that is both visceral and cerebral—music that speaks to the head, the heart, and everything in between."...intelligent and fascinating fusion for the 21st century." - Roger Farbey, All About Jazz

Hanging Hearts: Into a Myth

Read "Into a Myth" reviewed by Jerome Wilson

by Jerome Wilson
July 17, 2017

From Minneapolis, the city that gave us The Bad Plus, here is another trio with a distinctive take on mixing jazz and rock. However Hanging Hearts serve up a sound that takes some of the jazz-rock ideas of the Seventies and amps them up into a louder, punkier present. The opening clash of harsh tenor sax and clanging electric piano on “Return Of Saturn" recalls the Elton Dean-Hugh Hopper era of The Soft Machine before it settles into ...

Album Review

Hanging Hearts: Into A Myth

Read "Into A Myth" reviewed by Roger Farbey

by Roger Farbey
May 19, 2017

Hanging Hearts pack quite a punch for a trio, a bass-less trio at that. Saxophonist Chris Weller takes the lead on “Return Of Saturn" with guttural tenor, after which an anthemic ensemble melody is established. There's a real sense of jazz rock here, but undoubtedly erring on the side of jazz. Cole DeGenova establishes a keyboard riff on the exuberant “Pilsen" before the band joins in accompanied by Dave King from the Bad Plus on tambourine. Notably, King also produced ...

“James Brown could have found some funk in Hanging Hearts. These guys are from Chicago, the ghosts of legendary Windy City tenor players like Fred Anderson and Von Freeman blow through Chris Weller’s intentions. He’s done the Berklee College of Music thing and DeGenova’s been a soul-boy, with this album comes the time to shake the wider world. What I hear is self belief played with strength and it’s there for the taking.” -Steve Day, Sandy Brown Jazz

“Tenor sax player Chris Weller, who has a big Joe Lovano-like sound deep down but plays more free, keyboardist Cole DeGenova, and drummer Devin Drobka have a thing going it’s clear. The record doesn’t overstay its welcome with the self-composed Ornettian ‘Doo-Wop’ the big statement clocking in at nearly nine minutes, while the treatment of Ellington’s ‘The Single Petal of a Rose’ is really fresh and last track ‘Confucius Says’ is tender and beautifully naïve. Free bop with a rock edge to it avant fans will immediately get the band, one that teeters on the edge of chaos time and time again yet all three know how to push the reset button back from the edge to relative safety.” -Stephen Graham, Marlbank

“An album that shines with passion, participation and dialogue, nothing is left hanging, each portion is lived intensely by the three.” -Giuseppe Mavilla, scrivere di jazz

FOUR STARS “… directions that they take in the future might be very special indeed.” - Phil Barnes, All About Jazz

“The trio brings it’s own language…” -Carlos Lara, Tomajazz

“Chris Weller’s Hanging Hearts will inspire and challenge serious jazz listeners as this progressive trio treks into experimental territory with passion and confidence.” - Christian Harkna, AXS

FOUR STARS “Indeed, a top-shelf album that will require repeated listens.” -Geannine Reid, All About Jazz

“Chris Weller (tenor saxophone), Devin Drobka (drums) and Cole DeGenova on keyboard/rhodes thrive on improvisation.” - Hans Werksman, Here Comes The Flood

FOUR STARS “…these guys carve out their own territory.” -Roger Farbey, All About Jazz

“I was on the edge of my seat…” -Randy Hunter, Jazzbeat.org

“…Hanging Hearts certainly have their specific musical language…” –Miroslav Bachura, Jazz.sk

“Hanging Hearts shocked and stunned music fans... went up and down the road recklessly hammering the walls between genres. It was the kind of concert, which will be even after years of talk. Those who were there, they will be remembered as a true musical event.”– Pavel Šanda, Neratoviny

“It was phenomenal. The number was so full sound as if it would have been 5-6 piece band played there.”– Stephen Count, Láthatatlan Sárvár

Show less