muzycy:
Dave Rempis-alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, bari saxophone
Jeff Parker-guitar
Ingebrigt Haker Flaten-bass
Jeremy Cunningham-drum

Editor's info:
If you know Chicago jazz, you know the tendons beneath the surface run deep. This isn’t always apparent at first glance. Up above, it’s a broad-shouldered expanse where a multitude of players continue to weave specific sections on the tapestry of this ever-evolving art. And many of those sub-scenes have unique venues, audiences, and networks. But hang around late one night, and you’ll see players from far-flung corners, who may not ever work together, roll into local haunts like Elastic Arts and the Hungry Brain after their gigs to have a laugh and compare perspectives. Stringers and Struts is the audible personification of those deep tendons.

The collaborative quartet featured here consists of four musicians and bandleaders, all current or former Chicagoans, each of whom has carved out their own niche. Rempis is the “outsider” known for firebreathing bands like The Rempis Percussion Quartet, Ballister, and Kuzu. Cunningham, coming perhaps from the “straightest” side of the scene, first gained notoriety for his work with Marquis Hill’s Quintet. Since then, he’s worked regularly with a who’s who of the Chicago jazz world, culminating in 2019’s The Weather Up There, his second leader date which propelled him to international acclaim. Flaten tends to move between those extremes, blowing it out with free jazz power trio The Thing one night, contemporary jazz band Atomic the next, and the mish-mash grindcore/hip-hop/jazz of his own Young Mothers on another. And Parker, now a former Chicagoan after decamping to LA in 2013, is a musical chameleon who’s worked closely with a panoply of artists including Tortoise, Rob Mazurek, Fred Anderson, Nicole Mitchell, Joey DeFrancesco, and Meshell N’Degeocello. It’s his own records that put him in the top ranks of creative music though. 2003’s Like Coping on Delmark remains one of the most tuneful records from.......
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