Dave Rempis Quartet: Out of Season

I’ll admit a bias for the kind of cajones-out, collectively improvised free jazz played by the Dave Rempis Quartet on Out of Season (482). After reviewing a boxful of ching-chinga-ching (much of it quite good, I hasten to add), a little no-holds-barred creative anarchy can really hit the spot. Tenor and alto saxophonist Rempis, a veteran of Ken Vandermark’s quintet, is an intense, hard-toned post-Aylerist. He plays strong and fast, with a slow, wide vibrato and tons of energy. Pianist/synthesist Jim Baker throws his weight around to good effect, as does the fleet-sticked drummer and fellow Vandermark confrere Tim Daisy.

The band gets a nice variety of unconventional sounds out of their instruments; particularly neat are Baker’s analog synth squishes on “Scuffle, Pts. 1 & 2.” Jason Roebke does the all-tempos-at-once, hyper-swing thing and the melodic, frontline bass thing equally well. The band isn’t saying anything radically new, but they’re not stealing licks from some dead guy, either, and that makes ’em okay in my book.

Originally Published July 1, 2004