Chicago-based bassist and composer Jason Roebke leads a new quartet, featuring his original compositions and a stellar lineup. Equal parts Art Ensemble of Chicago and Luc Ferrari, Roebke's graphic scores are rich and flexible, concentrating on exploring multifarious ways of stopping, something that's been a feature of the bassist's improvisation for decades. Roebke’s music bridges the worlds of jazz and experimental music and the compositions lead the listener through twists, turns, and returns. The band is composed of veteran reed player Edward Wilkerson Jr., whose own bands Eight Bold Souls and Shadow Vignettes were among the great ensembles of eighties/nineties Chicago, extending the AACM tradition and spotlighting Wilkerson's sensitive improvising. Here, wielding tenor saxophone and alto clarinet, Wilkerson is a commanding – but also supremely collaborative – voice, joining the younger pianist Mabel Kwan and drummer Marcus Evans. Investigating the interrelationships between flow and cessation, the quartet is at once organic and halting, Roebke and Evans playing together with great assurance, but occasional interruptions of metronomes or Roebke's lo-fi cassette recordings pushing against the fluidity and expressiveness in revelatory ways. Roebke's bass playing has been a feature of scads of ensembles, both working and ad hoc, including Tomeka Reid Quartet, Jason Stein Trio, Jeb Bishop Trio, James Falzone’s KLANG, Jorrit Dijkstra’s Flatlands Collective, Pillow Circles, The Whammies, Keefe Jackson, and Mike Reed’s People, Places, and Things. The quartet’s new recording “Four Spheres” was recently released by Corbett vs. Dempsey.

https://www.jasonroebke.info/
https://corbettvsdempsey.bandcamp.com/album/four-spheres
https://corbettvsdempsey.com/

EDWARD WILKERSON JR.
tenor saxophone, alto clarinet, cassettes, metronome
MABEL KWAN
piano, cassettes, metronome
JASON ROEBKE
double bass, cassettes, metronome
MARCUS EVANS
drums, cassettes, metronome

doors 7 / music 8
$10/pwyc