This new album was recorded in March of this year, as The Rempis Percussion Quartet made their debut in France after 15 years of touring almost everywhere else across Europe.  At the generous invitation of programmer Antoine de la Ronciere at Le Petit Faucheux in Tours, the band was the test pilot for a collaborative project amongst five venerable venues for improvised music in France. In a tightly packed week-long schedule, the band performed in Tours, Poitiers, Brest, Nantes, and Lyon, while also doing a day of workshops and recording. Not surprisingly they set the room on fire that first night in Tours, energized both by their French debut, as well as by their first meeting in four years due to the pandemic! Barnburner is the only word for those two sets from Le Petit Faucheux. (Translated from French, Petit Faucheux means “little daddy long legs.”  The title of this album, Harvesters, is another English word for this close relative of the spider.)

Disc One of Harvesters documents the incendiary events from the second set of that concert.  On “Everything Happens To You” they tap right into their impressive core strength as an ensemble.  They were also honored to be joined that night for the last piece of the set, “The Exuberant Aubergine”  by legendary French trumpeter Jean-Luc Cappozzo. Cappozzo is a veritable hero of the French scene, with decades of work under his belt.  His outsized and jovial personality always shines through, and in this case his warm tone on flugelhorn brings the band to a more introspective space reminiscent of some of Bill Dixon’s later work.

For Disc Two, we find a different side of the band.  The first piece “Spooky Action” was recorded live at a morning workshop for kids ranging in age from 8-18 years old.  After the set, the band worked with the younger members of the audience, all of whom were recent immigrants from Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan, Niger, and Senegal.  Ostensibly a percussion workshop led by the band, as is typically the case the band learned more from the students than vice versa.  The workshop ended with a large group conduction led by an 8-year old named Fatima.

The second and third pieces on disc two – “Little Fascists” and “Fat Lip” - were both recorded on the same stage as the concert and workshop, but this time, without any audience.  This is a rarity for this band; the last time they did a studio recording was for 2010’s Montreal Parade since Rempis typically prefers the higher energy vibration of live performances on his recordings.  But in this case, having gotten accustomed to the acoustics and energy of the room already, the studio sessions brought out a different side of the band with a slower-burning focus.