The Rempis Percussion Quartet
The Disappointment of Parsley
Label: NotTwo, 2009
Catalogue No: MW 811-2
Format: CD
Tracks:
1. The Disappointment of Parsley
2. Zoni
3. C/Sold at Ten Percent Discount
Line-up:
Dave Rempis - alto and tenor saxophones
Anton Hatwich - bass
Tim Daisy - percussion
Frank Rosaly - percussion
Recorded:
live in Alchemia, Krakow on April 6, 2008
Dave Rempis' bio:
Over the last decade, Dave Rempis has emerged as one of the most active young players in the Chicago jazz and improvised music scene. Rempis graduated from Northwestern University in 1997 with a degree in anthropology, focusing in ethnomusicology, and a year spent at the University of Ghana, Legon in 1995-96. Since 1998, his work with the Vandermark Five as the "other" saxophonist has established him as one of the up-and-coming voices of his generation, and has also provided him the opportunity to perform extensively in clubs, concert halls, and festivals throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe. His own groups, including the Rempis Percussion Quartet, Triage, The Engines, The Rempis/Daisy Duo, and The Dave Rempis Quartet, have toured regularly throughout the US and Canada, and have been documented on the Okkadisk, 482 Music, Solitaire, and Utech record labels. In addition to these groups, Rempis plays regularly with Ken Vandermark's Territory Band, The Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten Quintet, The Outskirts, and the aptly named Rempis/Bishop/Kessler/Zerang Quartet. His frequent ad hoc collaborations have included performances with Paul Lytton, Axel Doerner, Peter Brotzmann, Hamid Drake, Kevin Drumm, Paul Nilsson-Love, Tony Buck, David Stackenas, and Joe Morris. As a founding member of the Chicago presenters' collective Umbrella Music, Rempis also curates a weekly concert series at Elastic, a not-for-profit performance space in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood. In 2006, Rempis was named as a Talent Deserving Wider Recognition in the annual Downbeat Magazine International Critics’ Poll.
About the music:
The first piece is somewhat of a swinger. For those of you who don’t like their free improvisation too jazzy, head for the bar. (And for those jazz writers who can’t seem to tell one instrument from another, despite the fact that you review dozens of records in public forums each year, I play tenor here, and alto on the other two tracks. They sound different. Dexter Gordon played tenor. Lee Konitz plays alto. Figure it out.) The second piece is a ballad of sorts, dedicated to my grandmother, Stamata Rempis, who passed away at the age of 102 three weeks before this recording was made. She was one of the strongest and kindest people I’ve ever known. As we stood onstage at the end of the first set, before starting this piece, thoughts of her flooded over me. I had been at Alchemia a few weeks earlier, on tour with Ingebrigt Hºaker Flaten’s Quintet, just after learning that she was about to pass. Zoni is the name of the small village in which she was born, just outside of Megalopóli, Greece.
The last piece develops through several different sections, as many of this group’s improvisations do, but perhaps most interesting to me is the juxtaposition of the two drum/saxophone duets during the first half of the piece. It highlights the different conceptions that Tim and Frank bring to the band, and perhaps why it might be worthwhile to have two drummers in the first place. We normally don’t play „tunes” with this band, opting instead for a more open approach. But one-third of the way through this improvisation, I had a strong urge to bring in „C” by Julius Hemphill, off the great record Raw Materials and Residuals. Not sure if the other band members knew what I was playing, although I’ve played it with Tim before. One last note is that I don’t play baritone saxophone on this record. The instrument has become an important part of the band’s sound, but the difficulties of touring, and particularly airline travel, make it impossible to carry to Europe. (Not that getting on a train with an alto, tenor, baritone, and a fifty-pound suitcase full of cd’s would be easy…) Just another example of how the logistical aspects of traveling can unfortunately have profound effects on the music. Finally, many thanks to Dmitriy Krasnov for the name of the record, adapted from one of his short poems.
A bit of thanks:
In the great documentary about Jackie McLean called “Jackie Mac On Mars,” McLean talks about his first trip to Europe: “…when I got off the boat in Paris, and, uh, gave my passport… the guy was stamping passports, you know, and he opened mine and looked down, and first thing he said was «Ah, jazz musicien…artiste.» You know. Stamped it. You know, it made me feel… feel good man. You know, I felt, I mean, whaddya want, somebody like saying «Ah man, this cat’s gotta have somebody tellin’ him he’s a jazz, ya know, he’s an artist…» Yeah. You gotta have somebody sometime to tell you that you’re an artist, man.” Considering the treatment of African-American musicians in the U.S. at that time (Bud Powell comes to mind) this is no joke. Although we’re living in vastly different times under vastly different circumstances, this is still no joke. For American musicians working in an art form as marginalized as improvised music, the dedication to the art requires some sacrifice. So when we’re presented with the opportunity to actually be an artist for a little while, it makes the poorpaying day jobs, comedic-paying gigs, and ridiculous-tragic travel itineraries of touring almost worthwhile. Our friends in Krakow at Alchemia, where this live recording was made, bring that gift every time. Alchemia has become a home away from home for me, having spent about five weeks performing, rehearsing, and recording there with various groups since 2004. The intimate brick cellar where the music happens, and the dark, candelit rooms upstairs, provide a refuge from the frequently snowy outdoors that brings to mind an 18th century inn. The owners, staff, and audiences at the club extend their warmth and hospitality in a way that also conjures up a different era, freeing us to focus, like artists, on the music. This recording is the best document of this group to date, and much of the thanks goes to them. At the risk of leaving many important people out, I’ll keep the list short – Alchemia owners Jacek Zakowski and Olek Witynski, manager Anna “Czarna” Adamska, Marek Winiarski from Not Two Records, and Wawrzyniec Makinia from MultiKulti Records. I am eternally grateful for the hospitality, hard work, friendship, and profound understanding of the music they offer. The pieces presented here are from two live sets recorded on April 6th, 2008 as part of a double-bill tour with Mike Reed’s band Loose Assembly in Europe. I’ve had the pleasure of doing two such double-bill tours now, the other one with The Vandermark Five and Atomic in the U.S. in June of 2004. The experience is powerful. It’s amazing to see another group develop night after night, trading energy back and forth between the bands, and pushing each other to new heights. Many thanks to Jason Adasiewicz, Josh Abrams, Tomeka Reid, and Greg Ward for their inspiring music, to Mike Reed for both his musicaland organizational skills, which made the tour possible, and to Danielle Oosterop for her organizational work.
