Think of a local music scene not in terms of an urban center but, rather, a kitchen pantry. As a cook, one often combines the same ingredients for favorite meals. And certain flavors are used in different dishes, even different ethnic cuisines. Then, every once in a while, whether from necessity or invention, a brand new recipe is formed, one with foundations in others but still a new taste experience.
The Chicago quartet of alto/tenor/baritone saxophonist Dave Rempis, vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, bassist Joshua Abrams and drummer Tyler Damon is one such culinary delight. They have all worked together before in various iterations, large and small, but Propulsion is the first document of this particular grouping: familiar ingredients in unusual proportions and combinations.
As he did in his collaboration with Peter Brötzmann, Adasiewicz tempers some of Rempis' more aggressive tendencies, pushing him through the boundary — ever porous — between fire music and spirit jazz. So too does Abrams, who works with more William Parker-like pulse and drone action than some of Rempis' other low-end partners. Damon is especially empathetic, never overwhelming the proceedings, highly conscious of dynamics.
As with most of the other 125-plus releases on Rempis' Aerophonic imprint since 2013, Propulsion is a live recording, in this case from one of his several Windy City homes, Elastic Arts. The setting allows for spontaneity, of course, but also subsuming of any agenda or ego. Rempis may have put the band together but, like his fellow New Englander-turned-Midwesterner reed player Ken Vandermark, he is fully invested in the collective effort.
The three improvisations, totaling just over an hour, are long while not overstaying their welcome and explore vastly different territories within themselves and from one another. It may be a cliché but this one-off group deserves to be one of Rempis' regular vehicles.
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