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Chicago-based cornetist
Rob Mazurek fused the creative impulse of Chicago's
post-free improvisers with the
dissonant digital soundscapes of post-rock.
Rob Mazurek (1966), after his beginnings in the vein of
hard bop documented on the mediocre Man Facing East (august 1994), Badlands (july 1995) and Green & Blue (july 1995),
led the Chicago Underground Orchestra that
is documented on the tentative Playground (january 1997), featuring for this occasion guitarist Jeff Parker, percussionist Chad Taylor, bassist Chris Lopes, and trombonist Sara Smith.
Mazurek formed the Chicago Underground Duo with percussionist Chad Taylor
and recorded
12 Degrees Of Freedom (july 1997) and
the more ambitious Synesthesia (december 1999), with
the 12-minute Blue Sparks Form Her, and the Scent of Lightning.
The Chicago Underground Trio added bassist and vibraphonist
Noel Kupersmith for Possible Cube (may 1998), another impressive
sound abstraction containing the 14-minute Into Another You,
Flamethrower (march 2000) and
Slon (april 2003).
The trio also incorporated guitarist Jeff Parker to become the
Chicago Underground Quartet (december 2000 - Thrill Jockey, 2001).
During this period, thanks to the friendship with Parker,
Mazurek also played with post-rock bands
Tortoise,
and Him, and especially the sextet
Isotope 217, which was a collaboration with bassist Matt Lux.
His solo albums were more experimental:
Amorphic Winged (2001),
Silver Spines (march 2002),
Thought Farming (2003),
Music For A Shattered Light Box And 7 Posters (2004),
the all-electronic Sweet And Vicious Like Frankenstein (2004),
and
Abstractions On Robert D'Arbrissel (2008).
Pared down to a duo again, Mazurek and Taylor continued their collaboration on
Axis And Alignment (september 2001), with
Two Concepts for the Storageof Light,
In Praise Of Shadows (august 2005 - Thrill Jockey, 2006), a timbral caulderon
on which the duo plays an arsenal of instruments, and
Boca Negra (may 2009 - Thrill Jockey, 2010).
The 14-piece Exploding Star Orchestra was Mazurek's most ambitious project,
featuring
a horn section with trombonist Jeb Bishop,
keyboardist Jim Baker,
and a rhythm section with
vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz and percussionist Mike Reed,
besides old Tortoise co-conspirators Jeff Parker, John McEntire and
John Herndon.
Their lengthy suites are documented on
We Are All From Somewhere Else (Thrill Jockey, 2007), containing
two multi-part suites,
String Ray and the Beginningof Time and
Cosmic Tomes for Sleep Walking Lovers,
Bill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra (september 2007)
and Stars Have Shapes (june 2010), containing
Ascension Ghost Impression No 2 and Three Blocks of Light.
Sao Paulo Underground was a collaboration between Rob Mazurek and
brazilian percussionist Mauricio Takara (also on electronics)
that yielded
Sauna (november 2005),
The Principle Of Intrusive Relationships (Aesthetics, 2008),
that added Brazilian keyboardist Guilherme Granado and Brazilian drummer Richard Ribeiro,
and
Tres Cabecas Loucuras (Cuneiform, 2011).
The latter includes much bombast
and gloomy digital soundscapes, but truly shines when
but the lively Carambola
the ethereal singsong Colibri emerge from the multi-textured chaos.
A new Chicago Underground Trio with new bassist Jason Ajemian debuted on
Chronicle (july 2006), containing the 28-minute Power.
The Rob Mazurek Quintet, featuring drummer John Herndon, bassists Matthew Lux and Josh Abrams, and vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, debuted on the more
conventional (by his standards) Sound Is (Delmark, 2009).
Chicago Odense Ensemble
(february 2008)
was a project with Dan Bitney, Jeff Parker and Matthew Lux.
Tigersmilk (october 2001) is the trio of Mazurek, Dylan van der Schyff and Jason Roebke. Tigersmilk continued with
From The Bottle (november 2003) and Android Love Cry (october 2006).
Active Ingredients consists of Mazurek, Steve Swell (trombone), Jemeel Moondoc (alto sax), David Boykin (tenor sax), Tom Abbs (bass and percussion), Chad Taylor (drums) and Avreeayl Ra (percussion) on
Titration (july 2002).
Mandarin Movie (2005) featured Steve Swell (trombone), Alan Licht (guitar), Matthew Lux (bass guitar), Jason Ajemian (bass) and Frank Rosaly (drums).
Starlicker, featuring
Mazurek, John Herndon (drums) and Jason Adasiewicz (vibraphone),
started with Double Demon (march 2011).
Chicago Underground Duo's Age Of Energy (june 2011 - Northern Spy, 2012),
mostly recorded live, wed digital instruments with traditional ethnic instruments.
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