Saxophonist Dave Rempis has become a major leader in Chicago’s famed improvised music scene by selflessly lending his organizing and mentoring passions to uplift this music community. From organizing festivals to heading up musician collectives to founding a record label championing jazz & improvised music — Aerophonic Records — the former Vandermark 5 member makes his impact matter.
His latest project is also a selfless endeavor, as Dial Up (Aerophonic) is co-headlined by vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz and drummer Chris Corsano, and it’s truly a cooperative effort. Adasiewicz has been a key member of Chicago’s out-jazz scene since the early 2000s, but recently re-engaged actively with the jazz and improvised music scene after a roughly five-year hiatus. Corsano isn’t a fixture in Chicago (yet) as he just arrived, but he’s long been a major figure of avant-improvised music in NYC and the northeast. Yet, his fearless intensity and persistent creativity makes him a great fit for his new environs.
Dial Up is culled from two live performances earlier in 2025 where the challenge of making music instinctively in front of an audience can test even the best of improvisors. But the Chicago/Midwestern lunch-pail approach to free improvisation is the glue that holds this trio together.
Jason Adasiewicz’s oblique patterns set the table for “Cutups” while Corsano expertly works up cymbal clouds. By the time Rempis joins in, he knows exactly where to take it, with long, honeyed notes and leading the group forward effortlessly. As a unit they segue from modern to the avant-garde, from brisk to temperate, but along a continuous vibe.
Corsano laid the entire bedrock for “Down That Path/Madness” from behind his drum kit, and then Adasiewicz and Rempis — on baritone sax — added the layers.
Adasiewicz plays his vibes as a chiming chordal instrument during “One Dollar Cheaper,” taking the road less traveled but it’s greatly effective, enabling Rempis to wax poetic on tenor sax as he might if he had piano accompaniment. As Corsano pushes the performance outside, the vibes gets accordingly more diffused.
Rempis extemporizes resourcefully around Adasiewicz’s single chord for “Past and Present Hallucinations.” “Third Person” feature Rempis on soprano saxophone on a slowly gestating song that builds up to a rousing crescendo.
Dial Up is available now and you can get a copy over on Bandcamp.
*** Dave Rempis CD’s & vinyl on Amazon ***
- Adam O’Farrill – ‘ELEPHANT’ (2026) - March 16, 2026
- Peter Somuah – ‘Walking Distance’ (2026) - March 13, 2026
- Soft Machine – ‘Thirteen’ (2026) - March 4, 2026
