Gig: Chicago Underground Duo

Chicago Underground Duo

The Music Gallery. Friday, September 10, 2010.

First night of the concert season at the Music Gallery, and early on a few MG types could be seen milling around in the kitchen, toasting new beginnings to the slightly incongruous strains of "Carry On Wayward Son". Don't let it be said that this is as stuffy an institution as might be imagined from simply flipping through its avant-leaning listings. First and foremost it's one of the best places in the city to go and listen to a show, with respectful audiences paying attention to the lovely acoustics inside St. George the Martyr Church.

Certainly a good space to listen to the Chicago Underground Duo, whose name is adequately descriptive. Consisting of cornetist Rob Mazurek and drummer/percussionist Chad Taylor, the pair are longstanding members of Chicago's avant/improvisational scene, having played and recorded with this project in some different configurations (including the Chicago Underground Trio and Quartet).

Mazurek was wearing a suit, his collar turned halfway up and shirt partially untucked. Under his bearded visage he looked a little like a Scandinavian politician on a bender. Besides playing his horn and working with some electronics, he'd make use of the Music Gallery's piano. Taylor was more dressed-down and looked to be fighting a bit of a cough throughout the night.

The night's first set was comprised of several different "pieces" that segued from one to another in a continuous suite. Not knowing their music very well, I don't know how much of this was based on "songs" in their repertoire, but the night flowed with the spirit of profound improvisation. The first set opened with an introductory segment, a couple minutes of minor-key clusters of notes on the piano and rolling drums before that was overtaken by a synth loop that would drone away, eventually joined by little horn figures. There would be quite a range in the tone of the music — from that blissful ambiance to a raucous drum solo to dramatic piano, but it all hung together very nicely. The whole first segment lasted about thirty-five minutes before a burst of applause and then the band started another one, again with quiet floating trumpet and watery percussion — very In a Silent Way — that melded into a gentle kalimba rhythm from Taylor that Mazurek picked up on and accompanied. Beautiful stuff.

The second set had a very different vibe — starting off more "electronic", with an oscillating squiggling sinewave providing a steady background for several minutes for the pair to groove to. At this point there was a convergence with a certain kind of "Chicago" post-rock sound — that's no coincidence, seeing as the band has been putting out albums on the Thrill Jockey label for years, putting them in the company of bands that are categorized as "rock", but who are converging toward a similar sound.

But the intriguing element is how that was only one element of a set that ranged widely from there, as that beginning gave way to after another piano interlude that became more tunelike and almost "cool", in the jazz sense, as Mazurek picked out a theme that then transformed into harder-edged abstract chords. Then more shifting as Taylor moved from behind the kit to a cajón (I think) and Mazurek pitched in to create a percussion duo.

The next selection returned to ambiance, but came from a different musical direction with Mazurek's processed wordless vocalisations and Taylor's kalimba, in a sweep that ranged from lullaby to roar. Getting loud again, the final movement included a cascading six-note synth figure, sounding like the opening bars of an early 80's newscast theme looped over and over giving a backbone for the drums and cornet before the whole thing ended in another celebratory surge of percussion.

An intense and fully satisfying show. Once again, this is the sort of music that's at the amorphous edge of several strands of things I like, and I'm glad that when I want to take the plunge into something like this that the Music Gallery is there to provide.¹

Listen to a couple selections from this show here.

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¹ The Music Gallery is special cultural institution, and one of those things that make it worth living in a city like this. For anyone who would like to support forward-thinking music of all kinds, the best first step is to become a member. As luck would have it, the Music Gallery has a limited-time special offer right now, that includes a discounted membership plus a one-year subscription to MusicWorks magazine. And to make it all the sweeter, members always get five bucks off the price of shows. This is a super-sweet deal, and you can learn more here.