Timothy Daisy: October Music (Vol. 1) 7 Compositions For Duet

In 2001 drummer Tim Daisy replaced Tim Mulvenna in Vandermark 5. From that instant, his career has evolved first as a sideman to composer/saxophonist Ken Vandermark in V5, Bridge 61, Resonance Ensemble, The Frame Quartet, and more recently in Audio One and Made To Break. Next he distinguished himself with fellow Chicago musicians in Dave Rempis' Triage, Percussion Quartet and The Engines, Paul Giallorenzo's Trio, Dragons 1976, James Falzone's Klang, and Kyle Bruckmann's Wrack.

As a drummer, like Paul Lytton, he is more a percussionist. As a percussionist, like Harris Eisenstadt, he is more a composer. As a sideman, he is more of an equal.

Daisy has recorded several duo sessions, mostly free improvisations, with the likes of Vandermark, Rempis, Jeb Bishop, Frank Rosaly, Ed Ricart, Jason Stein, Daniel Levin, and Mikołaj Trzaska. With October Music Vol. 1 he returns to duets but the seven tracks feature seven different musicians and each piece is a Daisy composition.

The disc opens with the flutter of James Falzone's clarinet and Daisy's brushes. The pair wind themselves into a standoff, then some radio static introduces Daisy's marimba, in effect swapping roles until Daisy returns to his brushes. Daisy plays a sort of zone defense against Dave Rempis' baritone saxophone, neither challenging it to a skirmish nor masking a clamor. The drummer's compositions are both lyrical and an improvised rhapsody. Daisy can accent Katherine Young's bassoon and Jen Clare Paulson's viola, both with a deft touch at marimba, making for elegant chamber music. Alongside cornetist Josh Berman, Daisy draws a smoky circle of hipster (in the best connotation) brushwork for Berman's snarling sounds.

The highlights here are his duos with Marc Riordan and Jason Adasiewicz, both former drummers turned pianist (Riordan) and vibraphonist (Adasiewicz). Riordan tears through Cecil Taylor-like runs over Daisy's multitasking stick work. Their energy jazz is a clatter of a nearly overturned cart that still delivers the goods. Likewise with Adasiewicz, the percussion-meets-percussion is spine-tingling and adrenaline filled.

Can we ask Mr Daisy to expand this format into a boxset, with each duo performance deserving of its own disc?