Rempis Percussion Quartet, The

Hunter-Gatherers

Label: 482 Music Country: USA

"Critics called the band's most recent CD, last year's Rip Tear Crunch, "engaging and unpredictable" (Brian Gilmore, JazzTimes), "one of the best records of the year" (Bill Meyer, Chicago Reader), and a "compelling set of five compositions that demonstrate that there is more up Rempis' and his cohorts' sleeves than just a bunch of free jazz bashing" (Jay Collins, Cadence). Time Out Chicago's Matthew Lavoie added, "And it helps that The Rempis Percussion Quartet's tremendously propulsive Afrobeat grooves, unending swing and even breathtakingly quiet moments - all with bassist Anton Hatwich darting between them - seem to draw from a bottomless well of energy."

Rempis first earned widespread notice as a member of the Chicago music scene's quintessential Vandermark 5, but has since established himself as a leader in his own right at the helm of groups such as The Engines, Triage, the Dave Rempis Quartet and The Rempis Percussion Quartet. AllAboutJazz.com interviewer Paul Olson recently wrote, "Rempis embodies all of the best qualities of the Chicago improvisational music scene: he's a gifted but disciplined player who knows his instruments inside and out; he's a fearless, imaginative improviser; and he uncomplainingly works his ass off." In addition to his extensive work as a leader and active sideman, which led DownBeat to call him one of its Talents Deserving Wider Recognition in 2006, Rempis is also a founding member of the Chicago presenters' collective Umbrella Music and the curator of a weekly concert series at the not-for-profit performance space, Elastic."-482 Music