Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Chicago Luzern Exchange: Several Lights

Chicago Luzern Exchange: Several Lights

By Germein Linares
November 19, 2005
Sign in to view read count

The Chicago Luzern Exchange is made of three Chicago-based musicians—cornetist Josh Berman, saxophonist Keefe Jackson, and drummer Frank Rosaly—plus one Swiss, tubaist Marc Unternährer. The group's rather nerdy name does little to entice the listener, though its music certainly will. This is free jazz, with shapes and forms, melodies and rhythms in a constant shuffle. While similarly derived ventures often result in noise, the Chicago Luzern Exchange thankfully finds plenty of music in its schemes.

The mode of attack on Several Lights usually involves a soloist and drummer Rosaly providing the initial thrust, with the group's various other pieces chiming in, departing, reconsidering, engaging, provoking, or simply admiring the others' multi-dimensional abilities. As such, defining this music is elusive and completely unnecessary; the experience, the moment, is what matters most on Several Lights.

A surprising feature on the album comes in the various lengths and themes the group undertakes. Some are extremely brief (twenty to thirty seconds), while other explorations, like the thirteen-minute "Take the Place," seem epic in comparison. This is yet another dimension, another amusing and engaging proposal, by a well-meshed group. Now, if they'd only reconsider that name...

Track Listing

Slips; Five Handfuls; Three of Three; Skidding; One of Three; Trouble; Our Thing; Pedal Past; Soon Enough; Dos; A Little Paler; Fairly Fast; Walls; Take the Place; Over the Wire; Spend Your Life; Two of Three; Someone Came; One-o-one.

Personnel

Chicago Luzern Exchange

Josh Berman: cornet; Marc Untern

Album information

Title: Several Lights | Year Released: 2005 | Record Label: Delmark Records

< Previous
Bebo de Cuba

Next >
African Sunrise

Comments

About Chicago Luzern Exchange

Tags

For the Love of Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who create it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

You Can Help

To expand our coverage even further and develop new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination will vastly improve your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.