AR019 | ITHRA
Rempis/Reid/Abrams

Dave Rempis – alto/tenor saxophone
Tomeka Reid – cello
Joshua Abrams – bass


Released September 14th, 2018 | CD

1) Lerna                      03:15
2) Many Labors           06:38
3) Morphallaxis           11:24
4) Wattle and Daub     05:45
5) Sister Cities             04:07
6) Sigu Tolo                 05:50
7) Chorissa                 09:05
8) Sessile                    06:53

Recorded December 18th, 2017 @ Elastic Arts, Chicago
Recorded/mixed/mastered by Dave Zuchowski

Design by Johnathan Crawford

Produced by Dave Rempis

This collaborative trio featuring three mid-career artists with deep roots in the Chicago improvised music scene puts forth a stunning and austere debut, a chamber-like exploration in which their three voices intertwine seamlessly into one multi-headed unit. Although each member is no doubt comfortable as a soloist, with significant leader credits under each of their belts, here they shirk that approach in favor of a music that is unflinchingly interactive and group-oriented. In this context, solo explorations don’t drive the music, but instead the sum of the three parts

together delivers an unstoppable momentum recalling the type of egalitarian interactions pioneered by the trio of Jimmy Giuffre, Paul Bley, and Steve Swallow in the early 1960’s.   The resulting pieces, each one a thoroughly unique and cohesive landscape, deliver a strikingly clear example of what’s possible when musicians with broad interests in all types of contemporary musical expression combine their aesthetics in a non-genre and non-stylistically bound approach. Rempis, Reid, and Abrams deliver a wholly original sound on this recording, straddling the

intersections of free improvisation, contemporary classical, jazz, and folk musics from around the world, without being contained by the precepts of any one of those influences. All of this begs the question if the music here is “freely improvised,” or “instantly composed,” or if it’s a set of pre-existing compositions that the band developed and rehearsed extensively, or if it’s a mix of all of those things? Have a listen, and take a guess. We’ll buy you a drink if you get it right.