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Available Formats:
Digital, Stream
Description
This cross-generational lineup of Chicago improvisers unites in a quartet that spews fire across everything in its path. Saxophonist Dave Rempis and bassist Kent Kessler have a deep history dating back to their shared tenure in the Vandermark Five from 1998-2010. When they first started working together Kessler was a revered journeyman of the scene, with his longstanding work in Hal Russell’s NRG Ensemble, DKV Trio, Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, as well as in groups with Fred Anderson, Mars Williams, Michael Zerang, and many others. As a young upstart, Rempis was lucky to find the guidance and wisdom of someone of that stature. Kessler’s astute insights into what makes music function generally – whether pop, country, contemporary classical, or free improvisation – were an eye opening gift to a young musician. And their late night conversations at the Empty Bottle, Hideout, 3030, Velvet Lounge, and all the other regular haunts of that era very much helped Rempis form his own understanding of the music.
Twenty years down the road, newer waves of improvisers continue to hit the Chicago scene, and fresh energy and ideas continue to pour in. But Gerrit Hatcher and Bill Harris are two musicians whose work has proven to have legs since they first showed up in the mid-teens. Both have formed countless groups with their peers, tour regularly, run their own record labels, and help to organize concerts – all of the community sustaining work necessary to both keep an art scene alive. Both also fit into the high energy aesthetic that Rempis and Kessler have championed for so long. So when Hatcher proposed this quartet grouping way back in 2019, the answer was an enthusiastic yes from everyone involved.
With the intervening years of the pandemic, this debut album is coming out a bit slower than anticipated. But it’s well worth the wait. Those years have allowed the band to work regularly and solidify a coherent group aesthetic that allows the fire to burn, but one in which they also take the time to pulse in the glow of the embers they leave behind.
Released in:
2024