Dave Rempis: The Covid Tapes

Like many during the pandemic, Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis turned to novel outlets for his artistic expression. Some fine examples of that output are captured on the double album The Covid Tapes, which pleasingly alternates six unaccompanied performances from the practice room (of between 3 and 7 minutes), with four outdoor live outings (of between 16 and 22 minutes) in trio or duet with a range of regular Windy City collaborators, dating from May to September 2020.

Unusually for such a devotee of spontaneous creation, all the solos are either covers or standards, albeit tunes which have some personal significance for Rempis. Although tackled largely straight, he imbues each with little twists of magic courtesy of fierce attention to breath and intonation. Joe McPhee's "Knox" provides a fantastic start, incantatory and mesmeric, as Rempis on baritone saxophone revels in the swagger of the simple but powerful riff, his frayed split tones shot through with vulnerability. He also gives a heartfelt rendition of Dudu Pukwana's Blue Notes' classic "B My Dear" while the pick of the standards is "On Green Dolphin St." where he keeps the theme close to hand even as embarking on soaring flights of fancy.

On the open air selections, the audio quality varies, but as Rempis says in the liners, the traffic, cicadas and whatever else, all constitutes an authentic part of the experience. Saxophone and drums easily cut through the ambient noise, although the strings fare less well. On "Toron," Rempis teams up with drummer Tim Daisy, a colleague from his Percussion Quartet, who rolls out a richly hued carpet of sound, while Rempis amalgamates ridiculously fluent phrase-making at speed with tonal manipulation and distortion in an exchange notable for its sharp-eared responsiveness.

Drummer Tyler Damon (along with Rempis, one third of the co-operative power trio Kuzu) introduces "Glitch" with an inventive exposition which moves from tolling chimes to primal tattoo, before Rempis' alto wail initiates a passage of smoldering interplay which ignites in a rapid-fire barrage. Damon also features on "Skin And Bones" beside bassist Joshua Abrams, in a threesome which simmers and boils, but ultimately unfurls into a relaxed interchange which inspires Rempis to some of his most lyrical blowing. The track also contains one of those serendipitous moments that raises a smile as Rempis seemingly engages a yapping dog in an impromptu duet.

Abrams also forms part of the trio on "In The Wild," completed by cellist Tomeka Reid, where a sublime opening episode of strings and saxophone, interweaving in elegiac splendor, excuses a somewhat disjointed second half. As this terrific set demonstrates, art always finds a way, and in this case at least, transcends the unlikely sources.