Featuring members of NOMO, Silences (Sumire), Zing! and Eastern Blok, this newly formed improvisational outfit features four young standouts in Chicago’s jazz, rock, and electronic scenes, relying less on freeform contrast and more on repeated melodies and apparent sections.Saturday, January 31
The Quin Kirchner Group @ Heaven Gallery (Chicago)
This newly formed improvisational outfit features four young standouts in Chicago’s jazz, rock, and electronic scenes.
The quartet’s style is more accessible than the type of experimental/free jazz that one might imagine from an improvisational outfit; according to alto/soprano saxophonist Charles Gorczynski, the group’s songs aim to sound more like compositions, using repeated melodies and apparent sections.
This makes sense in the context of the members’ other groups: Gorcynzki’s Colorlist, upright bassist Matt Ulery‘s Loom, and clarinetist / tenor saxophonist Elliot Bergman‘s NOMO, for which Kirchner also drums.
The night’s other set belongs to the collaboration of bass clarinetist Jason Stein, pianist Jim Baker, and bassist Josh Abrams — a trio with its own esteemed members that should rely more on solos and less on conventional structure.