Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Dave Rempis / Darren Johnston / Larry Ochs: Spectral

5

Dave Rempis / Darren Johnston / Larry Ochs: Spectral

Dave Rempis / Darren Johnston / Larry Ochs: Spectral
"Invisible Architecture" is a self-coined concept that characterizes the raison d'être of this experienced, free improvisational trio. The three first met first in the fall of 2011, when alto sax player Dave Rempis journeyed from his home in Chicago to the West Coast, to collaborate with like-minded compatriots from the Bay Area scene. Trumpeter Darren Johnston, a frequent visitor to Chicago and collaborator of Rempis, suggested that the two join with saxophonist Larry Ochs, of the Rova Saxophone Quartet, to perform as a trio at Oakland's Uptown Nightclub.

Each musician felt an immediate rapport from the first few notes and enjoyed challenging, unexpected interplay and mutual free improvisations that immediately felt like thoroughly composed pieces. Rempis returned to the Bay area during the spring of 2012 for two more concerts, and a recording session that resulted in the trio's recording debut, Spectral.

They play with spontaneous sonic searches, exploring their instruments' timbres, colors and shifting dynamics with commanding reserve and respectful interplay. The trio anticipates each others' moves to combine sonic sensibilities and patiently accumulate into a coherent, loosely structured piece. This game-like act of highly balanced, intuitive architecture becomes transparent when the pieces progress and the trio has settled on a distinct feel.

The last three pieces are exceptional. The ballad-like introduction of "Cheek and Bones," features gentle, caressing sounds that deliver emotional impact. The previous and latter pieces, "Snaggletooth Tussle" and "The Drop," feature a change of course through intense, rough attacks. These pieces challenge an expansion of sonic tactics and paint this sophisticated, nuanced architecture with new, independent lights and shades.

Track Listing

Traction; Iterated Integrals; Wrinkle Wrankle; How It Started; Snaggletooth Tussle; Cheek and Bones; The Drop.

Personnel

Dave Rempis: alto saxophone; Darren Johnston: trumpet; Larry Ochs: tenor and sopranino saxophones.

Album information

Title: Spectral | Year Released: 2014 | Record Label: Aerophonic Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make 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.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves 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.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.