Good days
| Good days | ||||
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| Studio album by the Chicago Underground Quartet | ||||
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| Label (s) | Astral spirits | |||
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CD, LP |
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Title (number) |
8th |
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Chris Schlarb |
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Good Days is a jazz album by the Chicago Underground Quartet . The recordings made in 2019 were released in 2020 on the Astral Spirits label .
background
The Chicago Underground Quartet was formed around 2000 from groups organized by trumpeter Rob Mazurek , who sometimes performed in a duo with drummer Chad Taylor or in a trio with guitarist Jeff Parker . The quartet version of Chicago Underground had previously (like the 1998 Orchestra formation) only released one album, in 2001 the self-titled debut on the Thrill Jockey label . Since then, the musicians had gone their separate ways - and at the time of the recording, neither lived in the city after which the band is named. Producer Chris Schlarb, along with keyboardist Josh Johnson , who also plays the saxophone in Parker's New Breed project, helped bring the California ensemble back together.
Good Days was the second album after a 19 year hiatus by the Chicago Underground Quartet , a group dedicated to exploring the outer fringes of jazz - electroacoustic, free jazz and retro soul jazz, wrote S. Victor Aaron. Ultimately, your music is simply not categorizable. Trumpeter Rob Mazurek, drummer Chad Taylor and guitarist Jeff Parker were all part of the original Chicago Underground Quartet that emerged from the Chicago Underground Trio. Noel Kupersmith played bass around the turn of the millennium; In the line-up of 2019, it is Josh Johnson who turns the formation into a quartet as keyboard and synthesizer player.
The production was preceded by Mazurek's album Desert Encrypts Vol. 2 (Astral Spirits, 2019). This gave rise to the title “Encrypts 37”, which is reinterpreted on this album as “Unique Spiral”. "Good Days (For Lee Anne)" was written by Jeff Parker and first appeared on his trio album Bright Light in Winter (Delmark, 2012).
For Chris Schlarb, the possibility of producing them also offered a kind of symmetry between past and present. “I grew up with this band and was influenced by them,” he says. "During the sessions, I only gave them back what they gave me."
Track list
- Chicago Underground Quartet: Good Days (Astral Spirits AS 125)
- Orgasm ( Alan Shorter ) 5:32
- Strange Wing (Rob Mazurek) 8:03
- Good Days (For Lee Anne) (Jeff Parker) 2:54
- Batida (Chad Taylor) 2:38
- All the Bells (Rob Mazurek) 3:58
- Unique Spiral (Rob Mazurek) 5:30
- Lomé (Chad Taylor) 5:13
- Westview (Chad Taylor) 3:59
reception
According to Aaron Cohen, who awarded the album four stars on Down Beat , the crew sounded as coherent and enthusiastic as they did when they regularly courted clubs in their hometown such as Green Mill . This bond is decisive for the sharp movements of the quartet in this concise album. The precision of the quartet is particularly pronounced on groove-centered tracks like Taylor's "Batida". Similarly, with Mazurek's “Unique Spiral” a sense of unity proves to be crucial, as the group's sharp movements react to the trumpeter's guidance. Johnson's repetitive synthesizer bass also quietly drove Parker to innumerable effects on Mazurek's "Strange Wing" Good Days , Cohen's summary, shows how much the quartet remains a part of Chicago's history of free jazz and open improvisation - especially in Mazurek's confident solo to Alan Shorter's "Orgasm". This sensitivity is also reflected in his solo over sparse and shimmering background bells in “All The Bells” with its shades of the small instruments of the Art Ensemble Of Chicago .
Karl Ackermann, who also gave the album four stars, wrote in All About Jazz that Mazurek was leading the group here on a very accessible and melodic excursion “as an incessant experimenter”. Mazurek's trumpet is breathtaking in its original form and adds another ethereal element. The set mixed idiosyncratic pieces, such as author: Taylor's drum solo in “Lomé” and “All the Bells”, highlighting contemplative bells, the clink of objects and Mazurek's blurry, crackling piccolo trumpet. Ackermann praises the telepathic collaboration between Mazurek, Taylor and Parker, who previously worked together on dozens of projects. Johnson is an excellent, if somewhat reserved, addition, and this is where his piano work shines. Parker's contributions to Good Days cannot be welcomed enough. whether complex or simple, his game always makes sense. This album is a superior example of what maturity and openness can net, the author sums up.
Dave Summer wrote in Daily Bandcamp : "Although it sounds brand new, the music still features the familiar scatter-shot rhythms, smooth melodies, encounters with the blues , flirtation with drone and groove interludes that one would expect from the group." Good Days is today's sound of jazz, but for the musicians who made it, it is also full of history. "A wild melody" plays a role on Good Days ; In most of the songs, "the melody is a blur that tears through the rhythms like a machete that cuts through the overgrown." As an example, he cites the opening track "Orgasm", where "calm patience gives way to abrupt outbursts of dissonance." "Strange Wing" moves to a harmonious turning point that seems to capture the feeling of drifting in space. "Meanwhile, echoes of the past resonate as strongly as signals of the present," wrote Summer.
Web links
- Noah Berlatsky: The Chicago Underground Quartet bottle their lightning again. Chicago Teader, March 6, 2020, accessed May 19, 2020 .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Aaron Cohen: Chicago Underground Quartet: Good Days. Down Beat, March 1, 2020, accessed May 19, 2020 .
- ↑ S. Victor Aaron: Chicago Underground Quartet, “Batida” from 'Good Days' (2020): Something Else! Streaming premiere. Something Else !, February 5, 2020, accessed May 17, 2020 .
- ^ A b Karl Ackermann: Chicago Underground Quartet: Good Days. All About Jazz, March 1, 2020, accessed May 19, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Dave Summer: The Chicago Underground Quartet Return Without Missing a Beat. Daily Bandcamp, April 14, 2019, accessed May 19, 2020 .
- ↑ Chicago Underground Quartet: Good Days at Discogs