Description
For the start of this new era of Karayorgis’ relationship to Chicago, Rempis assembled a quartet featuring a pair of younger musicians who by all accounts are among the best improvisers and instrumentalists of their generation on the Chicago scene – Jakob Heinemann on bass, and Bill Harris on drums. And the interplay of this band was spot on from the first downbeat, showing off a sensitivity to pacing, dynamics, and space on this recording that would be a rare feat even for a group that’s worked together for years. While Karayorgis spins off circuitous lines that traipse through a yellow-brick road of possibilities before alighting on ingenious endings with a cagy wink to show he knew the path right from the start, Rempis hones in on specific intervals drawn from those lines, using them to construct larger scales and structures that serve as an uncommonly specific sort of counterpoint to Karayorgis’ linearity. Meanwhile Heinemann and Harris produce some of the most sensitive and creative rhythm section accompaniment imaginable across the two pieces presented here. Let’s hope this band becomes a more regular occurrence since this auspicious debut truly begs for it!