Dave Rempis, Russ Johnson, Jeremy Cunningham & Jakob Heinemann

media release: Presented by BlueStem Jazz.

This new formation organized by saxophonist Dave Rempis represents a cross-section of the thriving jazz and improvised music scene of Chicago.  Rempis, Russ Johnson, and Jeremy Cunningham are all established leaders on their own, bridging the spectrum between knowing how to truly swing, and knowing how to take it just as far out. Jakob Heinemann is a young bass player originally from Madison who's taken the Chicago scene by storm since moving there several years ago.  All four have worked together in various configurations, but this promises to be an exciting first time outing for this quartet lineup.   

ABOUT DAVE

Saxophonist, improviser, and composer Dave Rempis has been an integral part of the thriving Chicago jazz and improvised music scene since 1997.  With a background in ethnomusicology and African studies at Northwestern University, including a year spent at the University of Ghana, Rempis burst onto the creative music scene at the age of 22 when he was asked to join the now-legendary Chicago jazz outfit The Vandermark Five. This opportunity catapulted him to notoriety as he began to tour regularly throughout the US and Europe, an active schedule that he still maintains to the present day.  At the same time, Rempis began to develop the many Chicago-based groups for which he’s currently known, including The Rempis Percussion Quartet, The Engines, Ballister, Rempis/Abrams/Ra, Wheelhouse, Triage, The Rempis/Rosaly Duo, and The Rempis/Daisy Duo.  Other collaborations have included work with Paul Lytton, Fred Anderson, Peter Brötzmann, Hamid Drake, Tomeka Reid, Steve Swell, Elisabeth Harnik, John Tchicai, Roscoe Mitchell, Nate Wooley, Jaimie Branch, Kevin Drumm, Paal Nilssen-Love, Nels Cline, and Joe McPhee.  In 2013, he started his own record label, Aerophonic Records, to document this ongoing work.  Rempis has been named regularly since 2006 in the annual Downbeat Critics’s Poll as a “rising star” on both alto and baritone saxophone, a category that he won in 2017.  He’s received funding from the Foundation for Contemporary Art, Jazz Road Touring sponsored by the Doris Duke and Andrew Mellon Foundations, the City of Chicago Individual Artist Program, and was the recipient of a Ragdale Fellowship from the Herb Alpert Foundation in 2017.

Rempis’ musical expression draws on a number of touchstones. While heavily improvisational in nature, his Greek ethnicity, studies in jazz and ethnomusicology, an appreciation for the philosophical underpinnings of contemporary composition, and a love for unforgivingly strident yelps, screeches, and squeals that can encompass the ever-evolving state of human depravity all inform his work.

Aside from his work as a musician and composer, Rempis has worked tirelessly as a presenter.  Since 2002, he’s curated and produced a weekly series of improvised music at Chicago’s Elastic Arts Foundation, where he’s also served as Board President since 2015. He was a founding member of the presenters’ collective Umbrella Music, and one of the lead producers and curators of its annual festival of improvised music from 2006-2014. He was business manager of the world renowned Pitchfork Music Festival from 2005-2016, and now works as Operations Manager with the neighborhood-based Hyde Park Jazz Festival in Chicago. He also serves on the Curatorial Board of the Ragdale Foundation.  

Trumpeter •• Composer •• Educator

Trumpeter Russ Johnson is a recent Midwest transplant after spending 23 years as an important member of New York City’s jazz community. He has 7 recordings as a leader or co-leader and performed on more than 75 recordings as a sideman. Russ has worked alongside many of the legendary figures in jazz including Lee Konitz, Steve Swallow, Bill Frisell, and Joe Lovano. In addition, he has recorded and/or performed with a long list of the most prominent musicians currently on the international jazz scene, including Myra Melford, Ken Vandermark, and Tony Malaby. Russ has performed in more than 40 countries across the globe.  His groups have recently performed at the Chicago, Winter Jazz Fest (NYC) Hyde Park, (Chicago) and Bergamo, (Italy) jazz festivals.

His most recent recordings, Meeting Point (Relay Recordings) and Still Out To Lunch! (Enja Records) received 4 1/2 & 4 stars respectively from Down Beat Magazine and appeared on many “Best Recordings of 2014/5” lists including Down Beat, the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reader, NYC Jazz Record and Magnet magazine. Russ will be releasing a new recording by his “Headlands” Quartet in 2017.

Russ is also active as an educator/clinician, having taught at colleges and universities across the U.S. and Europe. He currently serves as Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Wisconsin Parkside where he won the university wide “Stella Gray” Teaching Excellence award in 2016.  

About THE WEATHER UP THERE

Jeremy’s upcoming release The Weather Up There focuses on the life of Jeremy's younger brother Andrew, who died in a home invasion robbery in 2008. Working closely with Jeff Parker, Paul Bryan, and Josh Johnson, this new work confronts the tragedy of violence and examines the acute ripple effect on several people's lives through the lens of memory, response, and collage. 

In his own words, Cunningham explains, “I wrote The Weather Up There to confront the loss of my brother Andrew to gun violence, who died in a home invasion robbery some 10 years ago. My brother was a kind soul, and I used those warm memories of him to illustrate his life as a counterpoint to the pieces that confront his tragic end. Recorded accounts from my family and friends appear throughout the album to show just how far the ripple effect of gun violence extends through a community.”

As part of his process, Cunningham wrote poems and collected a series of audio interviews from family members and close friends of his brother that detail their experience of loss and the effect gun violence has had upon their lives. Cunningham formed a drum choir for these compositions with close mentors and colleagues Mike Reed, Makaya McCraven, and Mikel Patrick Avery, in order to further deepen the textural and emotive impact of these deeply personal works.  The collective improvisation of the drum choir is their response to the calls of personal stories and narrative accounts of these troubling events.

Recently, Cunningham traveled to Cincinnati with media artist Kim Alpert, who documented the scenery and locations referenced in The Weather Up There. Alpert will be performing as a member of the upcoming performances for this project to provide a visual counterpoint to the musical performance.

Me: [ jakob heinemann ] bass player, composer, improvisor and educator from Madison, Wisconsin.

In 2017, I graduated from Lawrence University with a degree in double bass performance, where I studied with many great artists, including Bill Carrothers, Matt Turner, Patty Darling and Mark Urness.

Also in 2017 I moved to Chicago, IL. Currently I teach bass lessons with People’s School of Music (Albany Park campus) and Lyriq Music School. 

Some of my current work includes a solo bass project, spectral composition involving field recordings, and a trio, Glass Hand, playing original compositions. I also can be found playing Jewish/Klezmer music from time to time, and composing chamber music for various ensembles.