Twin Talk

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Kyle Paul

Twin Talk on stage.

Twin Talk

The members of Chicago trio Twin Talk — bassist Katie Ernst, drummer Andrew Green, and saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi — play off one another in seeming telepathic fashion on the 2024 album Twin Talk Live. Despite the title, it is a studio album recorded live during several mini-sessions, to capture the band’s improvisatory prowess in a controlled environment…which succeeded mightily. Catch them in a less controlled environment, North Street Cabaret, for a BlueStem Jazz concert.

BlueStem Jazz.

media release: [Twin Talk] subverts the usual sax trio conventions in clever, immensely satisfying ways…undeniably heavy music.” - Peter Margasak, Nowhere Street

“…free-improvisation aesthetic at its core…the tunes on Twin Talk Live are so dreamily melodic and hummable that they veer into the art-pop realm.” - Chicago Reader

“…Twin Talk has established itself as a marker of postmodern jazz creativity…” - ChicagoJazz.com

Since forming in 2012, Chicago’s Twin Talk has steadily drifted from the conventions of the saxophone trio. Saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi, bassist-singer Katie Ernst, and drummer Andrew Green have spent their time on the band stage together making their music elastic, spontaneous, and open, embracing new inspirations without stifling the improvisational heart of their work. While all three musicians are active members in the city’s bustling jazz community, each playing in numerous working bands, they’ve found a true collective voice as Twin Talk. They use live performances as opportunities to stretch—expanding on composed material and ditching set lists in favor of calling tunes on the fly.

On their latest album Twin Talk Live, the trio blur the boundaries between near-telepathic collective improvisation and highly composed songs, resulting in a studio album with all the viscerality of their live shows. Twin Talk Live is out now on Shifting Paradigm Records.