Jazz /
Branches
** 2021 Stock ** Entropy Stereo Recordings presents Branches by Northwoods Improvisers. This album represents a slightly different approach for the group. While the Northwoods have collectively used a wide variety of instruments on previous recordings, here they choose to explore the possibilities with the marimba, bass, and drum combination. The album opens with the original composition "Kuntu" which launches into a high energy 7/8 African groove. In fact, rhythms are the key to Branches. Throu…
The Eighth House - Riding with Pluto
** 2021 Stock ** The 8th House is a disc of solo clarinet and saxophone improvisations with a few duets with Juma Santos thrown in. Wendell Harrison and the Tribe were pioneers along with BAG in St. Louis and the AACM in Chicago. Here Wendell recalls some of the freedom and soul from his early work with the Tribe in Detroit. He is joined by percussionist Juma Santos on a few tracks. You may recall Juma from his work with Miles Davis on the Bitches Brew record, or some of his work with Marion Bro…
Luc Houtkamp in Chicago
** 2021 Stock ** This disc represents the first American release for Dutch saxophonist Luc Houtkamp. Here, he appears with Chicago stalwarts Kent Kessler (double bass) and Michael Zerang (drums) in a 1997 studio date. Liner notes by Ken Vandermark, and artwork by Northwoods' Mike Johnston. "Houtkamp often showcases an aural dictionary of multiphonics complete with echoing tongue slaps, colored hissing and speedy key pops, adding the coagulated vibrato of every bar-walking saxophonist's nightmare…
Purple Dark Opal
Purple Dark Opal is the second release by the working trio Kuzu, a band whose deep roots in disparate musical traditions delivers a sound that’s not only new, but totally organic. Saxophonist Dave Rempis is best known for his work in the improvised music scene in Chicago, often exploring areas at the farthest edge of the jazz tradition. Guitarist Tashi Dorji, a native of Bhutan, came up through the active noise scene in his home base of Asheville, NC. The last decade has found him deep in that w…
ICOCI
This transatlantic trio combines musical sensibilities derived from their experiences in two world capitals of improvised music, Chicago and Amsterdam. Rempis and Rosaly, both longtime staples of the Chicago scene, have partnered for more than 15 years, most significantly in the Rempis Percussion Quartet and Rempis/Rosaly Duo. The two met guitarist/bassist Jasper Stadhouders at the Moers Festival in 2009 where the three shared a stage on the legendary “morning sessions.” Despite being only 18 ye…
Empty Castles
Empty Castles is the third document of Spectral, a working horn trio split between the cities of San Francisco and Chicago that’s been active since 2012. As with their previous two releases, 2014’s self-titled debut, and 2016’s digital-only Neutral Nation, this new recording showcases a free improvising band that fully embraces the term “instant composition.” While their performances are known for thoughtful pacing and development, methodically spinning off complex structures from scratch with a…
Lattice
** In Process of Stocking ** Dave Rempis is a mid-career artist whose deep roots in the Chicago improvised music scene have by now stretched themselves out across the world through his multiple ongoing collaborations. But he waited a long time to put out this first solo recording. Highly aware of the singular statements in this context put forth by artists such as Coleman Hawkins, Eric Dolphy, Anthony Braxton, Steve Lacy, Joe McPhee, Evan Parker, Ab Baars, and Mats Gustafsson to name just a few,…
Cochonnerie
** In Process of Stocking ** Aerophonic Records presents Cochonnerie by The Rempis Percussion Quartet. With a band that’s been around for thirteen years, one might reasonably ask with a new recording, what’s new here? Are there now dance beats superimposed on the music? Maybe some electronics? A different instrumentation, or perhaps some special guests? The answer on this recording – the eighth official document of this improvising quartet since it started in 2004 - is a resounding no. It’s the …
Slag
The sixth release by Ballister, recorded live at the renowned Café Oto in London in March of 2015 finds a well-honed working unit that's settled into the deep groove of their stride on a long tour. Exactly halfway through the journey, on the eve of Rempis’ fortieth birthday, the band bursts out the gate screaming, spewing fire and ash into what might have otherwise been a quiet Monday in London. Although the band and these players are often characterized as working in “improvised music,” or “jaz…
Perihelion
** In Process of Stocking ** This sophomore release by the working trio of Dave Rempis, Joshua Abrams, and Avreeayl Ra shows a band doubling down on the slow, patient approach to improvising that characterized their first release, 2014’s Aphelion. The trio continues to pulsate, expanding ever outwards, yet returning to a central core each time to launch their next adventure. The live sets presented on this new two-disc set document that musical expansion and contraction within the trio, but also…
Polynya
** In Process of Stocking ** This debut release by the working trio Gunwale matches veteran Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis up with two of the brightest up-and-coming stars from the next generation of Chicago improvisers. While Ryan Packard is known mostly for his extensive work as a composer and percussionist within the thriving contemporary classical scene in Chicago, Albert Wildeman has achieved notoriety for his meteoric rise from novice instrumentalist to one of the busiest players around a…
Cash and Carry
** In Process of Stocking ** On August 31st, 2014, The Rempis Percussion Quartet celebrated its tenth year in existence with an increasingly rare hometown concert at Chicago’s venerable Hungry Brain, a bar whose dark, relaxed, and frequently hard-drinking atmosphere helped to define more than a decade of the Chicago improvised music scene. The band had cut its teeth with regular performances at the Brain in the mid-aughts, but sadly, this would be the last time they hit the stage before the bar’…
Western Automatic
** In Process of Stocking ** Four generations of Chicago saxophonists join forces in this collaborative quartet, each one separated in age by almost exactly ten years. This wasn’t a calculated decision when Rempis and Vandermark first brainstormed the idea of the group in late 2013. The lineup came together based purely on the musical affinity of the personalities involved. (Oddly enough, Mazzarella and Williams had also been discussing the idea of forming a saxophone quartet at that time). Howe…
Worse for the Wear
** In Process of Stocking ** The fifth release by this powerful working trio in as many years shows a band once again not afraid to come out of the gate swinging. As always, these three individual virtuosos combine their unique talents to put forth a churning mix of hard-driving grooves and well-forged power. However, as the band has continued to work and tour together regularly for the past five years, their music continues to find new avenues of expression. On this recording, Worse For The Wea…
From Wolves to Whales
** In Process of Stocking ** Having crossed paths around the world many times over the years, Nate Wooley and Dave Rempis finally realized their long-time intention of forming a band together in the winter of 2014, with a lineup that can only be described as stellar. Featuring some of the leading lights of both the New York and Chicago improvised music scenes, the four members of this quartet, all internationally acclaimed players in their own right, found a common language as a unit right from …
Aphelion
This debut release by the regular working trio of Dave Rempis, Joshua Abrams, and Avreeayl Ra is a perfect example of what makes Chicago such a fertile breeding ground for improvised music; three musicians of widely varying ages, backgrounds, playing experiences, and musical interests join forces to deliver moments of both sublime beauty and volcanic energy, continually tempered by the seamless narrative momentum that they weave together in a seemingly effortless way. Although the trio has only …
Boss of the Plains
** In Process of Stocking ** Wheelhouse was formed in the summer of 2005, when bassist Nate McBride relocated to Chicago from Boston, and was looking for some similarly-minded musicians with whom to work. Having previously met Dave Rempis during the saxophonist's visits home to Boston, he approached him with the idea of starting a band together. Rempis recommended up-and-coming vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, who has gone on to become one of the most noted voices in the Chicago improvised music s…
Second Spring
Dave Rempis and Tim Daisy are two musicians whose work has helped to define an entire generation of Chicago improvisers. Having performed together since they both hit the Chicago scene in the fall of 1997, these two have joined forces on hundreds of performances and dozens of recordings with notable groups including Triage, The Engines, The Rempis Percussion Quartet, The Vandermark Five, and countless other ad hoc groupings. Their duo pairing has a similarly long history whose roots date back to…
Live at Berliner Jazztage
** 2021 Stock ** Alternative Fox presents Live at Berliner Jazztage, Berlin, November 6, 1971. A legendary show from the Miles Davis Group recorded from SWR in Germany in 1971, and featuring a breath-taking line-up including no less than Keith Jarrett on electric piano and organ. Live at Berliner Jazztage in Berlin on November 6, 1971.
Night Time Is the Right Time
** In process of Stocking. 2021 Stock ** Cadillac presents Night Time Is The Right Time - 60s' Soho Sounds by Dudu Pukwana & Bob Stuckey. Recorded at the legendary Ronnie Scott's Old Place, Gerrard Street, Soho, 1967/68 - Recordings from the artists' archives. These rare recordings feature the great South African altoist Dudu Pukwana in a combo with some of the key young players on the 60s London scene at the time and playing more like a young Jackie McLean than the free player of the Brotherhoo…