“Converging Tributaries”
Dan Phillips, Jeb Bishop, Krzysztof Pabian and Timothy Daisy “Converging Tributaries”
The first release from a Chicago-based Quartet featuring the two compositions by guitarist Dan Phillips and group improvisations with Jeb Bishop on trombone, Timothy Daisy on drums and Krzysztof Pabian on double bass.
Although this is the first release for this unique quartet, Krzysztof and Dan have 20 plus year relationship. Jeb Bishop is similarly a long-term compatriot and also a member of Chicago Edge Ensemble, which released its first recording ”Decaying Orbit” this year. Tim is well known figure in the Chicago experimental/free jazz scene and has performed extensively with all members. The album features Dan Phillips’ unique compositional style as well as extended group improvisations or spontaneous compositions, which showcase the musicality and creativity of all the members.
The album begins with the title track is a Dan Phillips “Conspicuous Con”, which begins with freely played melodic content that the group improvises on until the climax of a deep grove and new melodic material and individual solos by Dan and Jeb. This is followed by “Swirling Headwaters”. This spontaneous composition showcases the strengths of this ensembles’ ability to create various textures, shapes and contours and blend them into cohesive composition through free group improvisation. The third track “Converging Tributaries” is the title track and features a composed intro and outro with the melody play be arco double bass and trombone. There are individual improvisations by Dan, Jeb and Tim which are interceded by a syncopated swing melody. The album closes out with another group spontaneous composition entitled “Latent Entropy”. Once again the group really shows their improvisational prowess in creating a cohesive extended free improvisation.
Musicians
Dan Phillips is an American guitarist, composer educator and band leader who has worked professionally in New York, Chicago, Bangkok and Tokyo as well as touring globally. Dan is the leader of the critically acclaimed Chicago Edge Ensemble, Quartet Next, Dan Phillips Trio, Dan Phillips Quartet. Dan has performed with jazz musicians such as Hamid Drake, Gerald Wilson, Danilo Pérez, Hugo Rasmussen, Avreeayl Ra, Matt Darriau, Jim Black, Michael Zerang, Dave Rempis, Jeb Bishop, Mars Williams, Jim Baker, Ben Street, Chris Speed, Mike Sarin and Ed Thigpen and many more.
Jeb Bishop, trombonist/improviser/bandleader, has been active in jazz and improvised music since the mid-1990s. He first emerged as a key member in the vital scene in Chicago, where he lived until 2012. From then until 2022, he was based in North Carolina and then in Boston, and was part of many collaborations and projects in both those places. He returned to Chicago in spring 2022 and is now once again active there and internationally.
Tim Daisy is an American drummer and composer working in the fields of improvised and composed music. Tim moved to Chicago in 1997 and since that time has performed, recorded, and toured with many national and international improvised musicians and ensembles. Some of the musicians he has performed with inclue Dave Rempis, Ken Vandermark,Jeb Bishop, Mars Williams, Steve Swell, Jaimie Branch, Katherine Young, Fred Lonberg-Holm, James Falzone, Russ Johnson, Kyle Bruckmann, Katinka Kleijn, Elizabeth Harnik, Christof Kurzmann, Ikue Mori, Rafael Toral, Mikolaj Trzaska, Per Ake Holmlander, Darren Johnston, Havard Wiik, Jason Stein and Michael Zerang. In 2011 he received the New Music America Composers Assistance Award and in 2011, 2012 and 2017 the ASCAP Plus Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. He has recorded over one hundred and thirty albums as a sideman or leader for labels including Relay, (which he owns and operates), Not Two, Clean Feed, Astral Spirits, Aerophonic, Audiographic, Sonorus, Trost, Utech, New World, and Okka Disk.
Krzysztof Pabian hails from Europe as a classical-trained bassist. He began his music studies at the age of 8 on piano and switched to bass at age 14. Krzysztof moved to the U.S. in 1993 where he studied at Northwestern University to graduate with two Masters degrees in jazz and classical double bass performance. Krzysztof has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Civic Orchestra and worked in an array of ensembles under the direction of Pierre Boulez, Daniel Barenboim, Christopher Eshenbach, Zubin Mehta, George Solti, Lawrence Foster, and Pinchas Zukerman to name a few. In the area of jazz Krzysztof has performed with Danilo Pérez, Judy Roberts, Eddie Henderson, Max Roach, Ron Blake, Hamid Drake, Mars Williams, Jarek Smietana and the Lincoln Center Jazz Sextet. Krzysztof has toured throughout North America and Europe with various groups and configurations.
Awards
- Chicago Edge Ensembles’ “Decaying Orbit” and “Insidious Anthem”
New York City Jazz Records Honorable Mention for album of the year 2017, 2018 - Dan Phillips Quartet “Converging Tributaries” Avant Music News Best of 2017
- Dan Phillips Hamid Drake “Trail of Inevitability” and Dan Phillips Trio “Divergent Flow”
Chicago Edge Ensemble “Insidious Anthem”
Avant Music News Honorable mention 2108 - Chicago Edge Ensembles’ “Decaying Orbit” and Dan Phillips Quartet “Converging Tributaries”
Tom Hulls’ Best of 2017 and 2018