Gentlemen, start your Engines:Tim Daisy,Dave Rempis,Nate McBride,Jeb Bishop
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Wire & Brass (OkkaDisk), the second album from The Engines, captures a 2008 performance at the Hungry Brain by this two-horn quartet. Due in the next week or two, the album arrives as The Engines – one of Chicago’s better freely improvising jazz ensembles, led by reedist Dave Rempis – continues a four-week residency at Elastic, in preparation for their upcoming European tour.
Rempis has carved himself a distinctive niche among the city’s busiest improvisers. The saxist leads three high-profile bands of his own; plays an essential role in a few others (most notably the world-traveled Vandermark 5); and avails himself of numerous opportunities to perform in special projects and unique collaborations – while also curating the well-regarded Thursday night series at Elastic.
But of all those bands, only one – The Engines – affords Rempis the chance to work one-on-one with trombonist Jeb Bishop, his bandmate in an earlier edition of the Vandermark 5 and in a slew of other bands over the last decade. During that period, each has made major strides in his own playing.
Rempis has emerged from Vandermark’s shadow as a remarkably congenial firebrand, tempering his wildest forays with humor and a surprising gentility. These qualities distinguish him as a strikingly versatile artist on the local new-music scene, with a huge emotional range that also carries well on the world stage. He’s equally at home with boppish melody lines and multiphonic screeches, and this complicates his music in all the right ways.
Bishop already enjoyed a reputation as a fine trombonist and inventive improviser when, perhaps five or six years ago, he stepped up his game. As heard primarily in live performance, but documented on albums by the Lucky 7s and Ted Sirota’s Rebel Souls, Bishop seemed to have found another level to his playing; ever since, he has stood among the very best new-music trombonists, and as one of the top Chicago improvisers on any instrument.
Wire & Brass gives both hornmen plenty of space on five tunes, none of which settles solely into free jazz. One of the most attractive aspects of The Engines is a willingness to weave free-form solos into structured material and vice-versa – that is, to plunk relatively mainstream solos into material that has no traditional harmonic or rhythmic guidelines. In either case, the steady presence of bassist Nate McBride provides a central rallying point.
Of course, two-horn quartets are nothing new in post-bop jazz, and certainly not on the recent Chicago scene. The lack of piano, guitar, or any other chord instrument provides an open-sky, free-wheeling sonic context. But it can also get a little thin, and that’s where drummer Tim Daisy comes in – specifically, his mesmerizing mastery of rhythmic detail and tonal color, which allow him to play a role beyond the drum’s traditional domain.
With a slight alteration of a snare pattern, Daisy can (and does) reframe a melody line, as on the opening notes of McBride’s “Trouble Distribution,” which opens the disc. By moving that same pattern to the drum’s ribs – or to the high-hat cymbal, or miscellaneous percussion toys – he provides the shifts in palette that might result from a guitarist shifting octaves or repositioning a chord.
Daisy’s orchestral use of the trap set actually replaces some of what is sacrificed in a chordless quartet, giving The Engines’ sound more size and depth than expected. In effect, he becomes part drummer, part pianist. And it doesn’t hurt that he can instantly switch to full rhythm mode, sublimating the details in a hail of beats to galvanize the music.
But while the disc captures much of The Engines’ variety and intensity, it should serve only as an introduction to the band’s current residency. Recorded nearly two years ago, it features no compositions by Bishop, one of which was a clear highlight of last Tuesday’s set. In addition, Bishop has begun using electronics – to a limited extent and on only some tunes, but enough to add another wrinkle to an already eclectic repertoire.
Based on last week’s performance, they’ve significantly tuned The Engines since Wire & Brass was recorded. Catch the disc – but don’t miss the band in person, with all gears engaged, meshed, and roaring.
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