Dave Rempis: tenor saxophone; Steve Swell: trombone; James Falzone: clarinet; Russ Johnson: trumpet; Fred Lonberg-Holm: cello; Tim Daisy: drums.

Chicago-based drummer and composer, Tim Daisy, is known for his dedication to the avant-garde jazz, a style of which he keeps contributing prolifically whether through solo performances or musical associations that most of the times fall in duets and trios.
To counteract this tendency, Daisy convenes an astonishing sextet - Dave Rempis on tenor saxophone, James Falzone on clarinet, Russ Johnson on trumpet, Steve Swell on trombone, and Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello - to record The Halfway There Suite, his new auspicious album.

There’s a lot to like in this short session, which was performed and recorded live on the occasion of Daisy’s 40th birthday celebration. The drummer had these five excellent musicians in mind when he composed this four-part suite. Through the strong empathy, precise coordination, and grand elation detected here, it’s easy to conclude that besides talented explorers they are friends above all.

Daisy’s opening is a four-minute chamber jazz piece that finds its balance mostly through the simultaneous actions of the reedists. It features improvisations by Johnson on a first instance, and then Swell, who finishes in style.
The atmosphere becomes fervent during “Pt. 2”, a spontaneous automation grounded in a fantastic groove laid down by Lonberg-Holm and solidified by Daisy’s lusty drumming. In terms of improvisation, Falzone enchanted me as if I were a serpent. In opposition, Rempis gave wings to creativity by engendering a caustic speech imbued of tension. The tune is wrapped up with a collective improvisational section whose controlled cacophony made me jump. At this point, dancing is a valid option!

The longest and more abstract piece is “Pt. 3” where Lonberg-Holm cooks an eerie atmosphere. You’ll have the opportunity to admire not only the conversational reciprocity between Falzone and Swell, but also Daisy’s thunder rumblings and arrhythmias.
The exciting six-piece ensemble closes its performance with “Pt. 4”, an intoxicating waltz driven by sometimes-explosive, sometimes-danceable rhythms, and punctuated by contrasting blowouts and conductible melodic ideas.

If free and avant-jazz genres are your cup of tea, in the end, you’re going to ask for more.

Favorite Tracks:
02 – Pt. 2 ► 03 – Pt. 3 ► 04 – Pt. 4

Tim Daisy: marimba, turntables, electronics.

Tim Daisy, a drummer, marimbist and composer from Chicago, had a solid background in the avant-garde jazz scene as a member of the explosive The Vandermark 5 and Rempis Percussion Quartet, as well as through fruitful collaborations with the saxophonist Fred Anderson and the pianist Marc Riordan.
In his first solo project, released on Relay Records, he presents music for marimba, radios and turntables.
“Relucent” is a highly experimental album and a very difficult one (at least for me) to assimilate and become involved with.
With a bold musical concept in mind, Daisy, who also has a strong relationship with the visual arts, frontally assumes the risk of making unconventional music that likely will only bring him a minority of followers. However, that fact doesn’t hamper him from embarking on this weird exploration of sounds that comprise static noise, percussive rattles and tic-tacs, tuneful melodies of marimba (an instrument he dominates effortlessly), and turntable manipulations and collages.
The hypnotic “Burkina” relies on the surprising effects that are laid over a well-defined melodic/rhythmic idea. In turn, “Blue Rectangle” is a quite curious piece grounded on intermittent static noise and euphonious marimba articulations.
The sweetness of the marimba can be fully enjoyed in “Green Town”, while “The Spring Rust” transports us to the early days of cinema.
Even if this is not a genre I’m particularly looking for, “Relucent” reveals an unnerving posture with its percussive babbles and optimistic chants.

Favorite Tracks:
02 – Burkina ► 03 – Blue Rectangle ► 08 – Green Town