Chronicle

Excellent jazz/electronics session, the latest from Rob Mazurek, a Chicago musician whose Chicago Underground (Duo/Trio/Quartet) takes on an expansive and very interesting sound this time.

Mixing trumpet, percussion, and electronics for a jazzy vector that often gets echoey and strange. Tons of energy derived from '60s free jazz (2,3,6). Gets aggressive without ever becoming an unrestrained blur. Erik Truffaz fans will want to explore this.

1- Thumping fast bass solo, a long intro that SEGUES into #2.

2- Erupts with drums and bass, a fast free-jazz jam. Brash trumpet and cackling vibes add a crazed feel. Ends very quietly and SEGUES into:

3- Placid start: Tuned percussion and the soft rumble of toms. Bouncy rhythm builds after 6 mins, a soothing tribal feel w/echoey trumpet. Last 10 mins are an electronic tangle. Nice, but 28 mins long.

4- Slow, pensive space with aggressive sci-fi electronics warblings, quite abstract. Calmer and fast/sparse later, with darting vibes and trumpet, between jazz and classical.

5- Bells build to a clamoring primitive rhythm: Hypnotic, murky, mid/fast

6- Chaotic vibraphone flurry, like modern classical, with eerie swirling rapids of electronics. Bass solo, then it gets fast and tough, with hard free-jazzy drums and a soaring trumpet solo. GREAT riff ends it, leading into a sprawling, fast, spacey zone.