In an unmistakable sign that the Chicago progressive jazz scene is as vital as ever, some of its best members of the current generation banded together to make a record that demands your attention.
Volume 1 is the debut LP by drummer Quin Kirchner, bass player Matthew Lux and relative newcomer keyboard man Daniel Van Duerm, making provocative music that grooves with a late ’60s psychedelia sensibility but little if any of the heaviness often associated with that period.
With everyone chipping in electronic sonics to increase the far-out factor, this new entrant into the avant electro-acoustic field is distinguished more by the individual personalities of its members.
For one song we’re introducing in the stream above, the three are joined by another celebrated improvisor out of Chicago gang, the brilliant trumpeter Jaimie Branch. “Peaceable” is just that, an irenic track, and Branch fronts the proceedings with a vulnerable, fragile horn.
Meanwhile, Daniel Van Duerm’s first-gen electric piano walks the melody at a leisurely pace, and Matthew Lux’s bass is effective without being intrusive. Quin Kirchner astutely recognizes that “less is more” here and applies minimalist mastery to his kit.
Volume 1 will be available November 15, 2019 via Bandcamp from Astral Spirits Records.
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