Featured Recordings

Currently, I’m on tour with the Rempis Percussion Quartet, supporting the release of our new cd “The Disappointment of Parsley” on the Polish label Not Two.  After a few days off in Serbia, hanging out with Frank Rosaly, and going to see our friends Loose Assembly play at the Ring Ring Festival in Belgrade, we took the train north to Budapest, and met up with Tim Daisy and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten.  Those of you who have followed the band for awhile will probably ask where Anton Hatwich is.  Although we’ve had a great run with Anton, and I think this new record is the best document of the group yet, it seemed to me that it was time to change the group’s sound a bit.  After five years working as a free-improvising unit, there were sonic territories that seemed to be recurring more often than I’d like, preventing us from reaching new areas to explore. So I made the decision a few months back that it would be best to try a lineup change for the group to see if that might help knock things around a bit.  Not an easy one, as Anton is a great musician, and a good friend, but in the long run I think it will help the group continue to grow.

 In his place, I asked Ingebrigt to join the band.  Having worked with him in a number of different contexts, especially during his two-year tenure as a Chicago resident, I think his ability to navigate the broad range of reference points that we cover will be an asset to the band.  And so far so good…..although there’s always an adjustment period, the first three gigs have felt more “open” than some of the ones the band has done over the last year.  The issue of getting into and out of “time” in a logical way seems to have been addressed by simply not locking into it with the entire group, allowing different members to push and pull against the dominant rhythmic feel as they wish.  Looking forward to the next several concerts as we try to work on these ideas further. 

 And about the gigs…..we’ve had a great start, playing first in Szekesfehervar, Hungary, about an hour south of Budapest.  

Szekesfehervar

Although the town itself is small and somewhat quiet, the audience at Petofi Mozi is unbelievably enthusiastic, having driven in from all over Hungary for the concert.  Before we even started playing, we’d sold 30 cd’s!!!!  Many thanks to Levente Dudas, who started his N.O.E.W.A. series back in October 2008.  He’s quickly made this a special place to visit on tour, and has hosted 12 fantastic concerts, including performances by The Thing, The Sclippenbach Trio, Veryan Weston/Trevor Watts duo, and much more.  We’ll also be returning to Szekesfehervar in September with The Vandermark Five.

 With two days free after our Friday night concert, we killed time by heading into Budapest to check out some of the tourist attractions, including the Budapest castle, and the Szechenyi Baths, a huge outdoor public bathing complex with thermal baths, saunas, steam rooms, pools, etc. etc. I wish Chicago had one of these……We also were invited to Levente’s home on Sunday for a fantastic traditional meal of noodles and beef paprikash, along with some Hungarian wines.

Levente and family

On Monday morning, we headed west to Vienna, meeting Heinz Henning, who organized our concert at the Martischloessel, a traditional social club and beer hall.  

inside the Martinschloessel

Heinz’s enthusiasm for the music is uncontrollable.  So much so that he’d almost completely lost his voice after spending the previous three days hosting the Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet.  Although he has no background in presenting concerts, his passion compelled him to invite some musicians to do concerts last year (including friends like Jeb Bishop, Jason Stein, Ken Vandermark, and Mike Pride) and he’s trying to build that up even further into a yearly season of 10-12 concerts. 

Frank and Heinz talk music

Several friends also showed up for the concert, including Hans Falb from the Nickelsdorf Festival, and Walter and Andrea – two extremely nice folks who have come to almost every concert I’ve ever played in Austria, even though they live in the far western end of the country.  I think I first met them at the Music Unlimited Festival in Wels in 2000, and have run into them again in Wels, Vienna, Salzburg, Ulrichsberg, and Graz in the years since.  Thanks for your support and friendship Walter and Andrea!! 

Andrea, Dave, and Walter

 Of course we stayed too late at the venue, leaving around 3:30 am, which made the 7 am start to our travel day a bit rough.  Thankfully, we slept on the train, waking up in the early afternoon in Ljubljana. Ljubljana is also home to many good friends.  The first full-on tour I did in Europe was in 2000, when the Vandermark Five played the Druga Godba festival in Ljubljana, organized by Bogdan Benigar.  Bogdan was also the one who invited us this time, on his series at the Cankarjev Dom, the main cultural center in the city.  Some time to relax in the afternoon and a great meal at one of the oldest restaurants in the city made it easy to play that night.  While the crowd was nowhere near the soldout show we played here in February with The Vandermark Five and Atomic, it was a really warm reception nonetheless. 

 Currently, we’re in the middle of a 14-hour train ride north to Poland, where we first head to Krakow to meet Marek Winiarski from Not Two, the record label that put out the new cd.  Thankfully we don’t play tonight, but can just relax and sleep late tomorrow before the unofficial record release concert at Alchemia. From there it’s on to Poznan, and then three days at the Moers Festival in Germany, where it seems like we’ll be meeting up with a number of friends, including Colin Stetson, Tomas Fujiwara, Jasper Stadhouders, and many more.

Just ending a one-week stay in Serbia, after several great gigs, and a few days off to explore.  The trip started with three duo concerts with Michael Zerang.  Although he and I have both worked together in other contexts, this was our first time to play as a duo, and it was really enjoyable.  

Rempis/Zerang Duo in Zrenjanin

Michael’s a completely unique percussionist whose background is in classical percussion and middle eastern hand-drumming techniques.  His playing is totally different than many of the more jazz-versed drummers I frequently work with.  Surprisingly, we ended up playing quite a bit of time on the three gigs though.  When I return to Chicago in June, we’ll have another opportunity to work on this music thanks to Mitch Cocanig at the Hideout, where we’ll be playing on Wednesday, June 10^th.

The concerts here were all set up by Bojan Djordevic, a gentleman who’s quickly become a great friend.  Although I’d heard many great things about Bojan through Ken Vandermark and Mike Orlove from the Chicago Cultural Center, our only previous interaction had to do with a wire transfer for the Pitchfork Music Festival last year.  Bojan, in addition to being a lawyer, and producing several festivals in Belgrade each year, is also the agent and manager for Boban Markovic, perhaps one of the best musical discoveries I’ve made in the last ten years.  His brass band is mind-blowing…..

 The first concert was in Belgrade as part of the Ring Ring Festival at the Rex Theater.    The lineup for the seven-day event was stellar, with performances by Keith Rowe, Peter Brotzmann, Peter Evans, The Necks, David Stackenas, etc. etc.  The way it’s produced couldn’t have reminded me any more of the Umbrella Music Festival which we produce in Chicago each fall.  Like our festival, Bojan himself is the one picking people up at the airport, getting them to the train station etc.  Bojan also relies on arts support from the countries that send musicians to the festival, including, for the very first time in my career, support from the Illinois Arts Council, which made this trip possible for Zerang and myself, Keefe Jackson’s Fast Citizens, and Mike Reed’s Loose Assembly.  Overall, the concept seemed very similar to what we do with the “European Jazz Meets Chicago” night of the Umbrella Music Festival each year, partnering with foreign consulates and cultural groups to bring musicians for the event.  It was a great pleasure to work with everyone at Ring Ring, who actually care about the music, and work extremely hard in a difficult economic environment to make it happen.  As is often the case, the contrast in attitude with some of the bigger Western European festival couldn’t have been greater.  Thanks for everything Bojan, and congratulations on 14 years!!

In addition to the concert at Ring Ring, Bojan also organized two smaller club gigs for us in Nis and Zrenjanin.  Nis is the second largest city in Serbia (about 200,000 people) and Zrenjanin, although smaller, was a major agricultural production capital in the former Yugoslavia.   Both gigs were special.  In Nis, we started the afternoon by going directly to the “TV station” for an interview.  The station was situated on the top floor of a 20-story Eastern-bloc style apartment building.

MB5 Studios Nis

Nothing on the outside of the building indicated that there might be a television studio inside, and the exposed wires, missing buttons, and open circuit board in the elevator didn’t inspire much confidence.  When we got the top (well the 16^th floor actually – we walked the rest of the way up as the elevator wouldn’t go all the way up……) we found a phalanx of older gentlemen smoking cigarettes at the top of the stairs.  Guards perhaps?  The studio itself was inside a small converted apartment.  The first room was full of ladies, a few sitting behind desks, but most busily running back and forth, speaking in short clipped bursts.  In the room behind them were several gentlemen in suits, all smoking.  A shorter woman penetrated the crowd every two minutes to bring water, coffee, or juice to anyone who needed it.  She was a diligent worker.  I felt well-hydrated for the interview. 

The interviewer himself wore a silver, shark-skinned suit.  He explained beforehand that the interview would last five minutes.  He would ask a question, and we were to give a brief answer.  He would then translate it to mean whatever he wanted.  While we did the interview, two of his lovely young students from the journalism school in Nis looked adoringly on.

After becoming the face of American jazz for the television viewers of Nis, we rested at the hotel for a couple of hours, continuing on to the venue that evening.  The club was small inside, but the glass walls opened up, exposing it to a garden full of tables and chairs.  We played two improvised sets to a crowd who had clearly not heard anything like that before.  But they seemed totally into the music, despite the lack of a reverent silence as we might enjoy from the initiated.  We made some great friends (Ivan and Dragana) who took us out after the concert to sample the great beers of Serbia. Ivan had designed the poster for our concert, and Dragana worked with the NGO that produced the concert.  Although I don’t remember the name of the group, they have a broad mission to bring arts of all sorts to Nis. 

The next day, after taking the 3-hour bus back to Belgrade, and changing to the 2-hour bus to Zrenjanin, we arrived in a rural town full of trees and gardens, surrounded by rich agricultural lands that seem to support a wide variety of crops, as well as many orchards. (Perhaps this is the source of the fruit that goes into making Serbian “rakia” – a schnapps-like clear brandy that is quite enjoyable after a concert……

After a relaxed Sunday afternoon lunch of deer stew on the patio of a small countryside restaurant, we had a chance to relax before heading to Klupce, the club for that evening’s concert.  Klupce is run by Daniela Jelisavac, a Serbian woman about my age.  

Michael Zerang and Daniela Jelisavac

She and her husband Zlatko spent several years in Sweden after seeking political asylum there during after the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia.   After returning in 2005, they decided to buck the trend whereby the population is rapidly draining out of the countryside into Belgrade, or simply leaving Serbia altogether.  They opened their club in Zrenjanin, trying to bring some life and cultural activity to a city that had nothing.  In addition to organizing concerts and other cultural events at the club, they also host political talks, show movies, and ask questions with regards to the events that transpired here in the 1990’s.  This might explain why the night before our gig, two tax inspectors showed up for a routine inspection of the club, but brought 25 SWAT-team style police with them and threatened to close the club over a minor discrepancy of approximately 6 euros.   With luck, Daniela will continue to stay open though.  Her fight seems like a more extreme version of what many other friends who present concerts or own clubs have had to deal with to do something they feel is important for their communities (Ross Taylor in Columbia, SC, Ross Compton in Lexington, KY, etc. etc.) Good luck Daniela, and thanks for hosting us, and for doing what you do!!!

Now, I’m finishing the week in Serbia with some sightseeing in Belgrade.  Today, Joseph Biden is visiting Serbia, the first American president or vice-president to come here since Jimmy Carter in the late 70’s.  The city is effectively shut down, with streets closed, buses not working, the cell phone system shut down, etc.  Welcome to the emperor, I suppose…..

This weekend, I had the great fortune to be a part of the 15th anniversary celebration of the Okkadisk record label in Milwaukee. The concerts featured many of the artists on the label, including Peter Brotmann, Joe McPhee, Fred Anderson, Ken Vandermark, Michael Zerang, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jeb Bishop, Jim Baker, Nate McBride, Tim Daisy, and myself. It was a great celebration of the label and the community that owner Bruno Johnson and his wife Adrienne Pierlussi have created around themselves at their two amazing bars, The Sugar Maple, and The Palm Tavern.

The Sugar Maple

The shows started with a tribute to Joe McPhee, featuring Ken, Jeb, Tim, and myself playing 10 of Joe’s compositions from some early records including Oleo, Tenor, and Old Eyes. I’ve been a fan of Joe’s since I first heard him in 1999 at the Empty Bottle when he and Hamid Drake played a duo concert as part of a Vandermark Five record release party. I’ve heard him many times since, and am always blown away by the beauty of his sound and playing on every instrument he touches. (tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet, alto clarinet, pocket trumpet, flugelhorn…..and probably many more I’m not even aware of….) It was a great honor to have the opportunity to play his music for him, and Joe couldn’t have been more enthusiastic about what we did with the tunes. Joe is one of the most gracious people I’ve ever met, and I’m sure would never let on even if he hated it, but he seemed genuinely thrilled to hear what we did with his music.

The fun continued on Saturday afternoon, when I actually got the chance to play with Joe for the first time in an afternoon concert at  The Palm Tavern. Flooded with sunlight on a beautiful afternoon, we set up with Ken, Jeb, Tim, Joe, and myself, and did a long set with various solos/duo/trios/etc. The crowd was really enthusiastic, and the weather had everyone in a great mood, despite the pervasive round of hangovers from the night before…….

Saturday night continued with a show by the Engines, featuring mostly new music we’ve been working on during our Tuesday residency at Elastic. The music seemed to really come together finally, which always feels good after putting the time in on it!

Peter Brotzmann’s trio with Eric Revis and Nasheet Waits headlined that night, and slaughtered the house. Nasheet has become perhaps my favorite drummer in recent years, with an unbelievable sense of both feel and time and an amazing ability to create structures in free-improvised settings. Eric was not an apparent choice for this trio, being much better-known for the more straightahead work he does with Branford Malsalis, etc., but he pushed the music in some great directions, and certainly held his own during the Brotzmann onslaught. Peter’s new alto, apparently a Yamaha prototype of some sort, seemed like it might actually be louder than the one he was playing before……but as is frequently the case, he brought just as much beauty as energy to the concert, opting for some Gene Ammons-like quiet moments that are rarely discussed in descriptions of his playing.

Sunday afternoon wrapped up with a six-guitar piece by the Milwaukee group Collection of Bees, a trio set with Caffeine, and Fred Anderson and Tim Daisy playing duo. It’s a great testament to the label’s continuity over the years that the first two records Bruno put out were by Caffeine and  Fred Anderson with Steve McCall. All these sets were appropriately great…..Caffeine sounded like a working band, even though they haven’t played in about 6 years. Tim Daisy played his ass off with Fred, and Fred continues to surprise me every time he picks up the horn, even though I’ve seen him play hundreds of times by now. Truly inspiring…..

Overall, I can’t say thanks enough to Bruno and Adrienne for all the support they’ve given me over the years. Bruno had no reason to work with me when I first talked to him about putting a Triage record in 2002. He was pretty much guaranteed to lose money on a release by a young unheard-of trio. But he liked the music, and that was enough. We’re now working on our fifth release together, the second cd by the Engines, due out this summer. As I mentioned to the audience at the Engines concert on Saturday, Bruno is one of the unsung heroes of the resurgence in the improvised music scene in Chicago, having been there since the early 90’s when things really started moving. His humble and unyielding support for what we do is greatly appreciated.

CONGRATULATIONS AND MANY THANKS BRUNO AND ADRIENNE !!!

It’s been a fantastic period after returning from the late winter tours with Tim Daisy and The Vandermark Five. Beyond catching up with work at home, I just spent the last week with good friend, and remarkable bassist, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten. We did a trio set with Jim Baker at Elastic, and a live recording at the Hungry Brain with the Outskirts. Since the days of the Dave Rempis Quartet (with Baker, Roebke, Daisy) Jim and I don’t play together as often as I’d like, so each time is a treat. The second piece we did that night featured a scorching reunion of the alto and arp synthesizer. Jim is truly one of the most creative musicians I know, always posing challenges both verbally and musically that make you really consider what you’re doing.

The Outskirts recording went really well….a much better session than the one we tried back in November of 2007. Despite the fact that it was a horrible and depressing April snowstorm outside, we still managed to get a great crowd at the Hungry Brain. I marvel at the fact that after eight years, the Sunday Transmission Series is going stronger than ever, and the tone in this great drinking establishment is totally focused on the music. At one point in the middle of the first set there was a long pause in the music and you definitely could have heard a pin drop. The slence really ratcheted up the tension of the music even further, a special and rare thing in a bar environment. Hopefully the recording will come out well, and we can find a label for it!! Many thanks to both the audience and organizers Josh Berman and Mike Reed for keeping such a great thing going for so long.

Finally, speaking of Mike, some of you may have heard the somewhat unbelievable experience he had on tour with his quartet People Places and Things last week, running into a neo-Nazi rally at a train station in the Czech Republic. There’s a blog posting on his website about it here. Mike and I work really closely on a bunch of different things from Umbrella Music, to the Pitchfork Music Festival, to the band we play in together with Greg Ward and Nate McBride. It’s sickening to think of Mike and Greg facing potentially serious physical harm based on their race. For those of you who think the fight for equal rights is behind us, stay vigilant. There are plenty more battles to wage.

Just returning home from three weeks on the road in Europe with the Vandermark Five; our first tour in two years. Really a fantastic trip from a musical and logistical perspective. Audiences were incredibly warm, even in places where warmth isn’t a trademark characteristic of the culture (ahem….no need to mention names…)

As usual, many of the highlights of the tour revolve around seeing old friends, and eating good food….a few of those included:

Staying with Koen and Khrystel in Antwerp, two unbelievably hospitable and enthusiastic organizers who run Belgie in Hasselt, Belgium. Their vision goes way beyond jazz, which they include in an extremely well-rounded calendar presenting cutting edge music across the board. Khrystel is also a great cook, treating us to a hearty meal of homemade stoovflyes (Belgian beef stew) after our 12-hour journey from Spain. And Koen gave us a tour of the new venue that Belgie has acquired…..a home and adjacent factory built by a famous Belgian modernist architect in the 1920’s. The factory was originally used for processing and distribution of colonial goods (cocoa, coffe, etc.) and later became a wholesale distributor for pharmacies before going belly up in the 1970’s. The building is an enormous maze of rooms, and will make a venue unlike anything even fathomable in the US.

Another highlight was two days off just outside Amsterdam with Terrie Ex, his wife Emma, and their daughter Lena. Also gracious hosts, Terrie introduced us to possibly the best music show I’ve ever seen, Van Oekel’s Discohoek. Made in 1974, the show lasted two seasons, making fun of all the worst in pop music of the time. Difficult to describe how hilarious this shows is (my side hurt for two days from laughing after watching all 12 episodes) but thankfully I bought it on DVD to show to friends.

Terrie and Emma also shared the documentary of the The Ex’s 30th anniversary tour in 2004. My favorite line of the film was from Andy Moor, who in reponse to a complaint about the “practicality” of an overnight bus trip from one of the other musicians responded, “If I were trying to be practical, I wouldn’t have booked a tour with 38 musicians driving around on a bus.”

Some other food highlights:
Salt-encrusted sea bass in Maribor, Slovenia
Rabbit and sour cherry stew in Antwerp, Belgium
Langoustines, bacalao, and bocorones in Cadiz, Spain
Baked trout at the home of Wawrzyn and Ada Makinia in Poznan, Poland
Zurek (sour herb soup with sausage) at my favorite restaurant in Krakow

As for the concerts, there were many good ones, but perhaps the best were the two at Alchemia in Krakow. I find it unbelievable how time after time the music here ends up being better than anywhere else. People traveled from around Poland – Warsaw, Poznan, Gdansk, as well as from the Ukraine, France, and Britain to see these shows. They will be released on Not Two as our new cd later this year. The band’s long-standing relationship with Atavistic has now ended. (ahem….once again I won’t mention any names)

And finally, I picked up two boxes of the new Rempis Percussion Quartet cd “The Disappointment of Parsley” to start selling at shows and though the website. Please email me if you’re interested!!!

Just finished three Polish gigs with Tim Daisy, Waclaw Zimpel, and Mark Tokar. Tim and I were played a duo set each night, followed by Waclaw and Mark playing duo, and finishing with a quartet set My first time playing in Warsaw was great….although a bit tired after the transatlantic flight which got us in 3 hours before the gig The sold-out crowd helped us bring some energy though Waclaw is a fantastic young clarinetist who has maturity beyond his years, and a great attitude about the music, incorporating a lot of classical ideas and influences into his playing Mark also sounds fantastic, and grows by light years each time I hear him play We’re lucky to have worked together before in Resonance, Ken Vandermark’s Project which incorporates musicians from the States, Sweden, Poland, and the Ukraine That band’s first recording is now available on vinyl at Not Two We’ve also got more work in the fall in Italy, Poland, and the Ukraine Waclaw will be joining the band for that tour

While on the road, I’ve also been working on choosing tracks and sequencing for the forthcoming 482 Music release of the Rempis/Rosaly Duo, which should be out in the fall Hopefully Frank and I will reach some of the same conclusions about what to include from the 2 hours of material we recorded

We also just finished mastering a new Engines record, recorded live in Chicago at the Hungry Brain in April 2008 This one will hopefully be out in the summer on Okkadisk The band will be working on new material during a six-week Tuesday night residency at Elastic in April and May, and has been invited to play the Okkadisk 15th (!!!) anniversary party the first weekend of May at the Sugar Maple…..label owner Bruno Johnson’s fantastic beer bar in Milwaukee Rumor has it Peter Brotzmann, Nasheet Waits, Joe McPhee, and several other superstars will be on the bill!!!