Converging Tributaries by Dan Phillips Quartet

Review allaboutjazz.

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/converging-tributaries-dan-phillips-lizard-breath-records-review-by-mark-corroto.php


Lizard Breath Records

is pleased to announce this new exciting release.


Dan Phillips, Jeb Bishop, Krzysztof Pabian and Timothy Daisy
"Converging Tributaries"

Due 9/01/2017


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 Dan’s “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.










Chicago has justly earned its high esteem amongst jazz & creative music aficionados.
The city that fostered the talents of the AACM, Sun Ra, Fred Anderson, and many more has been kept alive by figures such as Ken Vandermark, Dave Rempis, Michael Zerang, Tortoise and many more. Some of the city’s finest appear on this release, led by fguitarist Dan Phillips.
Although Phillips – a Berklee and Northwestern graduate – has lived in Thailand off and on since 2001 where he works as a Jazz Educator and performer in the region, he grew up in Illinois and lived in NYC for 5 years working with the likes of Jim Black, Ben Street, Chris Speed, Matt Darriau and many more. During this time abroad he has regularly returned home to his beloved Chicago to record and perform with his favorite musicians. From the mid 90s to the early 2000s he lived in Chicago where he led groups featuring local talents Jeff Parker, Chad Taylor, Tim Daisy, Jeb Bishop, Hamid Drake, Mars Williams, Rudresh Mahanthapa, Phil Gratteau, Tatsu Aoki and Larry Kohut.







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 is the title track and features another Dan Phillips composition. This track 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.


More about the musicians:
Dan Phillips is an American guitarist, composer educator and band leader who has worked professionally in New York, Chicago, Bangkok and Tokyo. His Chicago based Trio has released three original recordings “Journey in Mind”, “Moment of Clarity” and “Destination Unknown”. His Bangkok Quartet has two releases “Bangkok Edge” and “Bangkok Edge Live” he also produced an educational/ concert DVD “Jazz Guitar Basics and Beyond”. He is also the leader of the “Chicago Edge Ensemble” which just released its first album “Decaying Orbit” featuring Chicago greats Hamid Drake, Jeb Bishop and Mars Williams. He has appeared at the Montreal Jazz Festival in Canada, Copenhagen Jazz Festival in Denmark, Ashikaga City Jazz Festival in Japan,Pattaya Music Festival, Bangkok Jazz Festival, Chiang Mai Jazz Festival and Hua Hin Jazz Festivals in Thailand, and All Souls Jazz and Empty Bottle Jazz Festivals in Chicago. Dan has also presented Jazz workshops throughout Asia, Europe and The U. S. He is currently Lecturer of Guitar and Jazz Studies at Silapakorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. He completed his undergraduate studies at Berklee College of Music where he was selected to represent the college at the Montreal Jazz Festival in his senior year in the “Berklee All Star” ensemble. He completed his graduate studies at Northwestern, University. Dan has performed with jazz musicians such as Gerald Wilson, Danilo Pérez, Judy Roberts, Hugo Rasmussen, Jeff Parker, John Stowell, Matt Darriau, JimBlack, Hamid Drake, Jeb Bishop, Mars Williams, Ben Street, Chris Speed, Pat Zimmerly, Mike Sarin and Ed Thigpen and many more.
For more info check out www.danphillipsmusic.com or https://www.facebook.com/danphillipsguitarist/

Jeb Bishop was born in Raleigh, North Carolina during the Cuban missile crisis. He began playing the trombone at the age of 10, under the tutelage of Cora Grasser. Other influential teachers during junior high and high school included Jeanne Nelson, Eric Carlson, Richard Fecteau, Greg Cox, and James Cozart.
He majored in classical trombone performance at Northwestern University from 1980-82, studying with Frank Crisafulli. Deciding he did not want to pursue a career as an orchestral musician, he returned to Raleigh in 1982 and took up engineering studies at NC State University. Raleigh's developing underground rock scene attracted him, and from 1982-84 he played bass guitar in rock bands in the Raleigh area.
At the same time, he developed an interest in philosophy, eventually majoring in the subject, and spent 1984-85 studying philosophy at the Higher Institute of Philosophy of the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium.
Returing to Raleigh in 1985, he spent the next few years working at menial jobs and playing guitar, bass, cheap keyboards, drums, etc., in rock bands including and/or, the Angels of Epistemology, Egg, and Metal Pitcher.
In 1989 he left Raleigh to pursue graduate studies in philosophy, first at the University of Arizona, then at Loyola University of Chicago (where he was awarded the Crown Fellowship in the Humanities). During 1991-92 he returned to Europe, spending the summer of 1991 studying German at the Goethe-Institut Iserlohn (now closed), and then pursuing independent studies in philosophy at the French-language division of the University of Louvain.
Returning to Chicago in 1992, he completed his M.A. at Loyola in 1993. By this time he had already begun to make connections with improvising musicians in Chicago, having joined the Flying Luttenbachers as bassist (later adding trombone) in late 1992, and playing guitar occasionally in a quartet with Weasel Walter, Ken Vandermark, and Kevin Drumm. Other bands during this period included the Unheard Music Quartet (with Vandermark, Mike Hagedorn on trombone, and Otto Huber on drums) and the Rev Trio (with Walter and saxophonist Joe Vajarsky). Bishop played electric bass in both these bands.
In late 1995, Bishop joined the Vandermark 5 as one of its founding members, and remained with the band through the end of 2004. During this period he also became associated with many other groups, including the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, School Days, Ken Vandermark's Territory Band, and his own Jeb Bishop Trio, and became a very frequent participant in ad hoc and free-improvised concerts in Chicago. Bishop performed in the inaugural concerts of two of the longest-running free-music concert series in Chicago: the Myopic Books weekly concerts (originally at Czar Bar; with Rev Trio) and the Empty Bottle Wednesday night concert series (with a quartet of Terri Kapsalis, Kevin Drumm, and Jim O'Rourke). He curated the monthly Chicago Improvisers Group concerts at the Green Mill from 1999-2002, and co-curated the weekly Eight Million Heroes concert series at Sylvie's in 2005-6.
In 2012, Bishop relocated to Carrboro, NC, and then to Durham, NC, where he made associations with musicians in the area including David Menestres, Dan Ruccia, Carrie Shull, and Eugene Chadbourne, and helped present and organize performances in the NC Triangle region. In 2015, he relocated again to Boston, and is now active in the scene there.
Bishop has made dozens of recordings with many different groups, has toured North America and Europe many times, and maintains a busy performing schedule.

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.
For more info check out http://www.pabian.com

Tim Daisy was born on July 15th, 1976, in Waukegan, Illinois, and began playing the drums at age 11. Soon he was involved in a rock band with his brother, playing shows around the northern Illinois and the Southeastern Wisconsin area. At age 17 a friend gave him a copy of John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps,” which had a profound impact on him and began his fascination with improvised music. Tim began formal lessons with percussionist Joe Varhula at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois, from 1995-1996, and moved to Chicago in 1997, quickly becoming involved with the city’s vibrant improvised music scene. In 1998, he formed Triage with Dave Rempis and bassist Gordon Lewis (who was replaced by Jason Ajemian in 2000). Also at this time, he became involved in the “58 Group,” a modern dance ensemble led by choreographer Ginger Farley, with musical direction by saxophonist and composer Cameron Pffifner. In 2000 Tim joined forces with young alto saxophonist Aram Shelton and bassist Jason Ajemian to form Dragons 1976, and continues to record and tour with this group to this day. Tim joined the Vandermark Five in 2001 and has been an integral member of the band since that time. During this period he also ran the Thursday night improvised music series at The Nervous Center in Chicago. Other active projects include Bridge 61, the Dave Rempis Quartet, Kyle Bruckman’s Wrack, and his own Festival Quartet; past collaborations have included work with the Chicago Improvisers Group, Sound In Action Trio, Unclocked, Arrive, Scott Rosenberg’s Red, and Fred Lonberg-Holm’s Lightbox Orchestra. In November, 2003, Tim was selected as one of “Thirteen Drummers For The Future” by Downbeat Magazine.
https://timdaisy.wordpress.com





What reviewers have said about Dan Phillips’ previous work:

“Dan Phillips leads a Quintet with a big Chicago sound and memorable compositons.”
Review The Wire Magazine 2017

“Decaying Orbit” – the song and the album fulfills the of its members and furthers the legacy of its worldly leader” Review Something Else Reviews 2017

Chicago jazz is the complexity of the postmodern with a predisposition for rump shaking. The Quintet rarely lowers the flame below boiling.
Review allaboutjazz 2017

“… one of the most original guitarists and composers currently on the jazz scene… ”.
Review allaboutjazz.com 2010

“… brilliant recording of contemporary improvisation at it’s best….. an elite and highly imaginative composer…. Phillips has a very unique guitar style… ”
Review of Dan Phillips Trio CD Destination Unknown, Jazz Improv Magazine 4/08

“… he [Phillips] opens the vista in a swell of notes that cut, roll and sweep ahead in a near torrent… the textures weave and bob, taking flight on the wings of their imagination… ”
Review of Dan Phillips Trio “A Moment of Clarity” 
allaboutjazz.com 1/2005


“Phillips provides lush and full chord voicings in just the right places, and solos effortlessly. His tone is clean and traditional while his improvised lines are much more in the free jazz genre in their direction. Dan Phillips is an interesting player who blends a modern and free approach with a more mainstream tone.”
Review of “Bangkok Edge” Vince Lewis Guitar International 2013

“Phillips innovative and improvisational mindset is still held together with the glue that is his strict belief in melody. He seems to know, without hesitation, when to break free of the textbook, yet recovers back to the basic principles of arrangement and composition. As a fine navigator, Phillips sets his compass by pure gut instinct, a refreshing trait of a leader!” “Rising above the nauseam of the traditionally bland attempts from others in the past, Phillips always seems, in all his work, to strive and succeed in keeping the sound fresh and expressive in feel and style.”
Review of "Bangkok Edge" Karl Strober Cadence Magazine July 2013

"When Phillips cuts loose he's as exciting a guitarist as there is, though he never abandons melody. He gets under the skin of the composer and inhabits a tune, reworking it in his own idiom. And as his originals here and on his previous albums as leader demonstrate, he creates pretty high standards of his own design."
Review of "Bangkok Edge", allaboutjazz.com, 2012

“Phillips is, without question, a skilled guitarist. His playing is fluid and understated, but he’s not above progressing through lengthy jams and pushing things to their limits. He solos deeply rather than broadly, tunnelling in to find the consistency of the notes and probing their meaning with sleek flourishes and impactful holds.”
Review of "Bangkok Edge, Canadian Audiophile, 2012

“Phillips in particular stands out for his fluid, whimsical articulations that’s alternately fleet-fingered and thoughtful, but always fresh and not clichéd. Phillips, as is made clear on this song, is one of those “looks hard, sounds effortless” type of guitar players. “
Review of "Bangkok Edge, Something Else Reviews, 2012

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