Percussion Quartet back on the road….
2012-03-31
And we’re off….check out the great tour poster by Romanian designer George Staicu…..
European Solo Tour
2011-11-29
I just got back last week from a few weeks in Europe, travelling around by myself, and playing with different musicians in Amsterdam, Berlin, and Vienna, as well as two solo concerts in Poznan and Warsaw, Poland. It was an incredible experience on many levels….
Umbrella Fest 2011
2011-11-08
Just coming off of Umbrella Music Festival 2011, with so many highlights, great audiences, fantastic sets of music, etc. etc. it’s hard to detail it all. Odean Pope Quartet with Marshall Allen at the Hideout was definitely a highlight, as was Sten Sandell solo at the Chicago Cultural Center. That would probably get my vote for best set of the festival.
Fall Travels
2011-10-18
October 18th – Just returned last night from a week in the Bay Area, doing concerts with many of the great musicians who live out there, as well as some other folks who happened to be in town. Started off on Tuesday, October 11th at the Uptown in Oakland – a great venue that fits about 400 …
Summer Update
2011-07-01
JULY 1ST, 2011 – Well, based on the last posting date here, I’m clearly delinquent in my blog postings….been a busy spring, I guess. Some highlights included a fantastic duo tour in Europe with Frank Rosaly, some record release concerts with The Rempis Percussion Quartet in April…
Spring Concerts
2011-03-16
MARCH 16TH, 2011
Getting ready to hit the road next week in Europe with Frank Rosaly. This will be our first tour since last June’s mini-tour in the midwest, and the longer North American tour we did in December of 2009. Both of these were ostensibly in support of our duo cd Cyrillic, which came out just over a year ago on 482 Music. Although really, just an opportunity to work on our music some more! As I try to get all of the details of our itinerary together, still reflecting on some great stuff that’s been happening in Chicago the last few weeks.
RESONANCE FESTIVAL
2011-02-13
RESONANCE FESTIVAL
As winter slowly turns into spring, gearing up a for a busy period of work! The first big project on the docket is a week of rehearsals, performances, and recording with Ken Vandermark’s Resonance Ensemble at the beginning of march, a 10-piece band first assembled in the fall of 2007, featuring musicians from the States, Poland, The Ukraine, and Sweden. This band is really the culmination of Ken’s relationship with presenters and record labels in Poland…
New for 2011
2011-01-09
January 10th, 2011
Just got a giant box in the mail yesterday from 482 Music, with copies of the brand new Rempis Percussion Quartet cd “Montreal Parade,” which is slated for official release in March. Very excited about this one – our first with Ingebrigt Håker Flaten on bass, and the first recording since 2009′s “The Disappointment of Parsley” on Not Two Records. Looking forward to doing some playing with the group around Chicago in April. Email me for your copy of the new cd……
FALL 2010
2010-11-28
NOVEMBER 28TH, 2010
It’s been quite some time since I had to chance to update the blog, so there’s plenty to report. Most recently, just returned from a week on the road in the Midwest with the new trio Ballister, featuring myself, Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello, and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums. The band had only done one previous gig…
Percussion Quartet Tour May
2010-05-31
MAY 31ST, 2010 – Just returned last week from 10 days on the road in Europe with the Rempis Percussion Quartet. We started out in Belgrade, Serbia, with a performance at the Ring Ring Festival, which is curated by Bojan Djordjevic, manager of the now world-famous Boban Markovic Orchestra – one of the best gypsy brass bands working today. I first met Bojan in 2008…
Percussion Quartet News
2010-04-18
A couple of bits of news for the Rempis Percussion Quartet as we get ready for our upcoming tour in Europe this May. First off, our first cd, “Circular Logic” is now available for free at the new website Candy Dinner. This cd is long out of print, as only 125 copies were made…
March Tours
2010-04-01
Finally emerging from winter here in Chicago, which is always pleasant! After a busy period in town, working on several different projects including a recording with the Rempis Percussion Quartet in January, and a series of gigs with The Engines in February and March, I just returned yesterday from a few weeks in Europe on two different tours. The first was a quartet featuring myself and Tim Daisy on drums, along with Polish clarinetist Waclaw Zimpel, and Ukrainian bassist Mark Tokar…
Winter
2010-02-10
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve had time to update the blog, which I guess is a good thing! The holidays and early january were relatively slow musically. Spent more time practicing and working on the Pitchfork Festival for this summer than anything else. By the third week of January things were in full swing though…
Duo Tour
2009-12-14
Just returned yesterday from two weeks on the road as a duo with Frank Rosaly. As usual with projects involving Frank, what can I say…..absolutely an incredible experience. I’ve long been interested in the saxophone / drum duo, and have done plenty of duo work with my other regular co-conspirator Tim Daisy. This is the first real tour I’ve done in this context though…
Fall
2009-11-13
The last few weeks have brought some pretty amazing musical experiences. Our trip with Ken Vandermark’s Resonance Project took us on hour after hour of bus rides back and forth across Eastern Europe, from Poland to Italy, to Hungary, back to Poland, to the Ukraine, and then back and forth across Poland again a few more times for good measure.
Joys of Touring
2009-10-10
While I do love touring – having the opportunity to play each night in front of a new audience, sometimes in places I’ve never been before, and sometimes in places that have become quite familiar in a great way – there are sometimes some drawbacks. For those who think it’s a glamorous lifestyle…
Summer Wrapup
2009-09-14
The summer Post-Pitchfork was a relatively relaxed period, with some highlights including a Vandermark Five tour that took us to some favorite places, as well as a gig on the Newport Jazz Festival, which is now known as George Wein’s Jazz Festival 55. It seemed that the loss of a major corporate sponsor (JVC) gave Mr. Wein the opportunity to program a somewhat broader array of the modern world of jazz…
Back in the thick of it…
2009-07-25
It’s been awhile since I last updated this page, as the summer season is when my day job as one of the organizers of the Pitchfork Music Festival really gets crazy. I actually haven’t been able to touch my horn for the last three weeks, but after a seemingly succesful conclusion to Pitchfork last weekend, I’ve got both the tenor and alto up and running as I prepare for an upcoming Vandermark Five tour including a concert at the Newport Jazz Festival.
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