AR006 | SPECTRAL :
Spectral
Dave Rempis – alto saxophone
Darren Johnston – trumpet
Larry Ochs – tenor/sopranino saxophones
Released May 6th, 2014 | CD
bandcamp download/stream included
1. Traction 8:49
2. Iterated Integrals 7:29
3. Wrinkle Wrankle 10:15
4. How It Started 6:07
5. Snaggletooth Tussle 4:50
6. Cheek and Bones 6:45
7. The Drop 11:17
Tracks 3 and 7 recorded by Tom Hunt at Berkeley Arts, Berkeley, CA on May 23, 2012
All other tracks recorded by Eric Moffat at the Catacombs, San Francisco, CA on May 25, 2012
Mixed by Eric Moffat and Larry Ochs at Unsound Studio
Mastered by Dave Zuchowski
Design by Johnathan Crawford
Produced by Dave Rempis
Special thanks to Tom Hunt, Philip Greenlief, Laura Maguire and Alex Pinto, Kate Dumbleton, Mitch Cocanig, Josh Berman, Mike Reed, Adrienne Pierluissi, and Bruno Johnson.
This free-improvising trio came together in the fall of 2011, when Rempis journeyed to the West Coast to discover some things about his compatriots on the Bay Area improving scene. Trumpeter Johnston, a frequent visitor to Chicago, where the two had collaborated in several different settings in the years prior, suggested this trio lineup for a performance at Oakland’s Uptown Nightclub. Although Rempis hadn’t worked with Ochs before, the latter’s renowned experience in the all-horn lineup of
The ROVA Saxophone Quartet made the idea especially appealing. From the first few notes, that initial meeting flowed comfortably, yet in totally unexpected ways, with all three making logical structural decisions that gave their improvisations the feel of through-composed pieces. Eager to continue developing this language that the three later came to dub “invisible architecture,” Rempis made a follow-up trip to the Bay Area in the spring of 2012 for two more concerts and a studio recording session.
Spectral, the first document of their work, was the result of that visit, and shows an improvising trio playing out an audible game of chess. Not satisfied with simply existing in the moment, these three combine sensibilities to look many moves ahead, setting each other up time and again to capitalize on structural possibilities that give rare and meaningful form to an otherwise very spontaneous music.