The smallest possible incarnation of Chicago Underground is the duo – or so the legend goes. Rob Mazurek (cornet, synthesizer) and Chad Taylor (percussion) founded the project 28 years ago and have since expanded it into a trio, quartet, or even an orchestra as needed. Their close ties to musicians from the post-rock scene – such as Jeff Parker, Bundy K. Brown, or John McEntire – helped awaken jazz sensibilities in listeners who would usually scream “Jazz!” in horror at the sight of a saxophone in a coffee commercial.
Hyperglyph is their first duo album in eleven years – and it arrives just as the long-anticipated jazz revival is becoming a reality. The creative basecamp for Mazurek and Taylor sits at that crossroads where modal jazz must decide whether to continue toward avant-garde or spiritual jazz. Their music lives and breathes through their unique interplay: in the title track, cornet and modulated synthesizers meet percussion inspired by African traditions; while »The Gathering« begins as an intense musical dialogue before dissolving into a kind of New Age ambience.
The three-part »Egyptian Suite« would likely have made Sun Ra spin with joy on his Saturnian throne. And whenever Mazurek goes off the rails, Taylor stays calm – and vice versa. Some jazz purists might hesitate to call the occasional bursts of cacophony on Hyperglyph “jazz” at all. But that, of course, is exactly what has always defined great jazz.
