Deep within the music there is a pulse that carries this music, and it is mostly directed by Håker Flaten's bass. Switching to baritone, the music gets even more quiet, and at the same time more rigorous. As the piece ramps up, the insistence of the music exhausts the piece. -Mark Corroto, All About Jazz
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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’s impending closure at the end of 2014. To up the stakes a bit further, that night also marked the end of the 2014 Chicago Jazz Festival. As usual, the multitudes of fans and world class musicians visiting for that event packed in with the Chicago regulars to hear what the local guys might deliver on their home turf. The band didn’t disappoint. The talking ceased immediately as they hit the stage, channeling the significant emotional energy of the evening directly into two sets of fiery music, once again taking the reins as one of the hardest-hitting bands to emerge from the Chicago scene in the past decade. On this document of the night’s festivities, you can hear the group dive in face first, working over every facet of the simple melodies and grooves that form the underlying basis of their extended improvisations, tearing them apart, and reconstructing them in a multitude of new ways. A fitting tribute to the creative life this special place spawned for many, many years.
credits
released June 23, 2015
Dave Rempis – alto/tenor/baritone saxophone
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten – bass
Tim Daisy – drums
Frank Rosaly – drums
1) Water Foul Run Amok 39:08
2) Better Than Butter 15:30
Recorded August 31st, 2014 at the Hungry Brain, Chicago
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Dave Zuchowski
Design by Johnathan Crawford
Produced by Dave Rempis
Special thanks to Josh Berman, Mike Reed, Dan Morrizo, and Janice White for many wonderful years of Sunday night at the Brain.
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I am not surprised at how good this is. Thumbscrew are terrific and Anthony Braxton's music is always interesting and moving in different directions. I can not stop listening to this. The recording itself is so well done. It is a deep sound to crawl inside. liclon
So happy to see a new album from this band. I've long been a fan of Mazurek and Parker's work in Tortoise, on top of the CUQ... Anyhow, if you're curious about contemporary jazz, this is a terrific place to start.
Hobie Anthony