Je'raf - All My Friends are Holograms

in

"The premise of je’raf is to make the avant-garde accessible. Upon listening to their music, what is most likely to strike you is that it sounds both extremely familiar and wildly extraterrestrial. This is intentional: it’s left-field music you can groove to, and it exists to make you feel grounded while spiraling far out into other possibilities. Get into it."
-Erin Margaret Day, Bandcamp

credits

released July 15, 2022

je'raf is:

Brianna Tong - vocals
pt Bell - vocals, piano
Ishmael Ali - guitar, electronics, cello, piano, vocals
Wills McKenna - saxophone, flute
David Fletcher - trumbone
Eli Namay - bass, vocals
Bill Harris - drums, percussion, vocals, piano, wurlitzer

Recorded at Marmalade by Ishmael Ali and Bill Harris
Mixed and mastered by Ishmael Ali and Bill Harris
Produced by je'raf
Released and distributed by Don't Panic Records and Distro

This is DP-031

Devouring the Guilt - Prison Planet

in

Liner notes:


BILL HARRIS - DRUMS
GERRIT HATCHER - TENOR SAXOPHONE
ELI NAMAY - BASS

RECORDED BY BILL HARRIS LIVE AT THE WHISTLER ON JUNE 9TH, 2019
MIXED AND MASTERED BY BILL HARRIS
ARTWORK BY GERRIT HATCHER
ALL MUSIC BY BILL HARRIS, GERRIT HATCHER AND ELI NAMAY
TOTAL TIME - 36:54

KTHL004

Ben Zucker - Fifth Season

Liner Notes:

Fifth Season is the bandleader debut of multi-instrumentalist composer and improviser Ben Zucker. Currently based in Chicago, Ben's music draws upon a varied practice combining experimental forms and styles, the product of studies and collaborations across North America and the UK. Ultimately, his concerns as a music maker are about experience, and how we come to understand the world as it unfolds in real time and place ourselves in it in new yet responsible (response-able) ways.

The music of Fifth Season, in particular, enables active collaboration and creativity through setting up improvised contexts via narrative text. By using long-form prose descriptions of gestures and textures, the forms of the music are guided yet open-ended, and content is constantly made anew in the moment. It has allowed the music to come to life in many different ways in the hands of various performers, who are able to bring their vocabularies to the fore and merge it with the "notation".

For this album, some of Chicago's most interesting up-and-coming improvisers went into the studio to realize a recording of old and new compositions, after performing the material throughout venues for experimental and creative music. Adam Shead (John...  more

credits

released June 15, 2020

Ben Zucker - Vibraphone
Mabel Kwan - Piano
Eli Namay - Upright bass
Adam Shead - Drums

Recorded and mixed by Nick Broste at the Shape Shoppe, Chicago, on July 23, 2019.

Mastered by Bill Harris.

Artwork by Ana María Bermúdez

Errata - Many People are Unenthusiastic About Your Work

in

Errata's debut album recorded March 03, 2019 at the Shape Shoppe by Nick Broste.

credits

released May 10, 2020

Ishmael Ali - guitar & electronics
Eli Namay - upright bass
Bill Harris - drums & percussion

mixed and mastered by Errata
artwork by Errata

tracks 1,3,5, & 6 - Ali
2 - Namay
4 - Harris

Carol Genetti & Eli Namay at Myopic Books - 10​/​21​/​2019

in

After some years playing together in various configurations, Carol Genetti & I (Eli) play duo for the first time at Myopic Books on October 21st. This was a month and a half before I moved to Pittsburgh from Chicago. It was also during the 2019 Chicago Teacher & Staff strike, which I was working on supporting through the Democratic Socialists of America. It was a time of peak burnout for me, where I was processing the last decade growing up, living, organizing and playing in Chicago - as well as taking in and being a part of a very intense political moment. I think the intensity and sensitivity of the time, and the spirit of the political and music communities comes through on this recording done on Carol's zoom, played in front of a few book store characters and some close musical comrades (Gerrit Hatcher & Julian Kirshner, who unwittingly contribute with finger tapping here and there, which I am very into).

credits

released May 6, 2020

Carol Genetti - vocals & electronics
Eli Namay - upright bass

Artwork and recording by Carol Genetti
Mixed by Eli Namay

Chicago Winter 2020 - Eli Namay (solo)

in

Solo upright bass recorded live at Elastic Arts in Chicago, February 27th 2020.

released May 1, 2020

Recorded and Mixed by Bill Harris
Eli Namay - upright bass & album art


All music by Eli Namay except Composition No. 245 by Anthony Braxton & Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum by Wayne Shorter.

Adam Shead's Adiaphoria Orchestra - Miniature Paintings and the Impossible Warehouse

in

Liner notes:

I.

Even light
descends from air
to flesh

In a long lung
of thought
upon us,

Open to retain
the warmth rememberd
limb by limn

II.

Asks us
what wilderness
outside this,

that such and such
diffusion of phosphor's essence~~

'phoricin in its condensation
(sentenced to its recapitulation)~~

visits us,
sparrow-esque

like a sun-hed, stout,
burgeoning in particular,

bird-brag hailing
arabesque

from the wood
and planes outside
horizons. not up nor down but in

or out~~strong wind, a swift emerging nether
cloud pitches about the unsung note
'til held

by the head.


Founded in the Winter of 2017 Adam Shead’s Adiaphora Orchestra is a large mixed chamber orchestra performing the compositions and conductions of percussionist composer, and educator Adam Shead. The Adiaphora Orchestra, located in Chicago, IL, is comprised of the cities finest rising star improvisers from a variety of performance idioms and practices. Including a full string, brass, woodwind, auxillary, and rhythm section the ensemble performs what Shead calls “indifference music”. Adiaphora, meaning an act that is neither moral nor immoral is the basis for the music of the ensemble, performing long form pieces that have little interest in codified ways of knowing musical expression. This resistance to the codified structures of improvisation brings about a type of musical indifference, or rather a love from the ensemble for creating something that is uniquely their own, something not bound to the constructs of musical hierarchy. “Miniature Paintings and the Impossible Warehouse” is a series of pieces dealing with diametrically opposed concepts of scale. Utilizing both the concept of miniature paintings or micro scaler systems displaying the distortion of reality, and the impossible warehouse as the macro or literal representation of reality the orchestra hopes to display an honest reflection on concepts of delusion, paranoia, imitation, contentment, and interpersonal relations. The debut album from Adam Shead’s Adiaphora Orchestra, “Miniature Paintings and the Impossible Warehouse”, will be physically produced and released by Chicago based record label Amalgam Music.

Adam Shead is among the newest generation of Chicago improvisers, bringing his unique approach to the drum set to such groups as Adam Shead’s “Finding Home”, Wark/Dawid/Heinemann/Shead, Ben Zucker’s “Fifth Season”, the Stein/Shead duo, and the Adiaphora Orchestra. Shead’s background in hardcore punk, contemporary classical, jazz, and improvised music provides him with the ability to move fluidily throughout a myriad of musical styles while utilizing extended techniques, blistering speed, and dynamic control in a manner often unheard of on the drum set. Shead has performed at renowned music festivals such as The Present is Present in Amsterdam, NL, The Ann Arbor Edge Fest, Homebody Festival in South Bend, IN, and The Chicago Jazz Festival. Shead has performed alongside such luminaries as Jason Stein, Tim Daisy, Steve Swell, John Dikeman, Jasper Stadhouders, Mary Oliver, Anna Webber, Angel Bat Dawid, and Matt Piet. Shead is the founder and conductor of the twenty piece Adiaphora Orchestra and currently works as the Director of Outreach at Slate Arts and Performance in Chicago, IL. 

credits

released April 30, 2020

Recorded at Elastic Arts Foundation in Chicago, IL on September 15, 2019.

Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Bill Harris.

Adam Shead - Conduction
Johanna Brock - Violin/Voice
Scott Rubin - Viola
Erica Miller - Cello
Ishmael Ali - Cello/Electronics
Eli Namay - Double Bass
Andrew Scott Young - Double Bass
Jakob Heinemann - Double Bass
Jeff Kimmel - Clarinet
Sarah Clausen - Alto Sax/Clarinet
Chris Moore - Alto Sax/Recorders
Jake Wark - Soprano/Tenor Sax
Mark Mahoney - Trumpet/Accordion
David Fletcher - Trombone
Matt Riggen - Tuba/Trumpet
Matt Murphy - Toy Instruments
Ben Perkins - Veena
Ben Zucker - Vibraphone/Voice
Matt Piet - Piano

Allium Tricoccum (compilation) - Devouring the Guilt on Track 2

in

I wrote the liner notes to this compilation, which was put together as a fundraiser for the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2020. I’m not sure I still agree exactly with what I said, but either way its a reflection of a real feeling, from a particular time and place.

I appear with Devouring the Guilt on Track 2

Liner Notes:

100% of the sales of this record will go towards Bernie Sanders' campaign. Give what you can while checking out some important Chicago documentation; over three hours of music! Every little bit counts!

Words by Eli Namay:

As both a creative musician and activist I've sometimes struggled to articulate the connection between these two worlds. At times I’ve felt as if all my musical work must have political meaning through either adequately deconstructed aesthetics or on-the-nose messaging. Looking back at this period, I see that both my music and my political action suffered. Music cannot have political weight in this way. While aesthetics can help bring people together, transform us emotionally and spiritually, or help carry a political message for organizing (like the old Industrial Workers of the World songs did), political action that actually moves toward changing power relations cannot happen in the aesthetic realm.

Yet, there is something political about the creative music world in Chicago and elsewhere. The work of my musical comrades points beyond the limitations of capital. Limitations capitalism creates both in terms of aesthetic possibility and access to physical space for creative activity. Capitalism has no doubt been a liberating force historically, creating new artistic possibilities through building wealth and breaking down old static social relations. Marx points out as much in the Communist Manifesto. For instance, the creative music world in Chicago wouldn't be what it is at all if it were not for northern industrialization and the post-war fordist economic boom. In his book A Power Stronger Than Itself, George Lewis traces the birth of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) to the Great Northward Migration (Black folks moving north around the turn of the last century to both look for industrial jobs and escape institutionalized racist violence in the south). Ironically, the same dynamics that helped grow Black wealth and culture on the Southside of Chicago turned against those same communities in the neoliberal era. Deindustrialization leaves human beings without access to resources as capital carelessly leaves in search of greater profits elsewhere. Regardless of circumstances, beautiful culture exists wherever humans exist. Cultural development is certainly not solely contingent on capital, but under our current economic system people's access to basic material resources unfortunately is.

Capitalism brings with it an all too obvious destructive tendency. As capitalists seek to gain more and more wealth, all areas of life tend to become privatized and commodified. As spaces for care work and artistic activity become commodified, the profit motive trumps the needs and desires of human beings. The same dynamic that limits access to health care by placing a price tag on it limits and shapes the growth of creative activity precisely because of the contradiction of the commodity form. It is the contradiction between the material experiential or use value of a commodity (what it means as used by a human), and an abstract exchange value (price) imposed by the needs of capital. Under capitalism, exchange value always ultimately trumps the needs of human beings. If you can’t afford it, you can’t use it!

Creative, experimental, and DIY musicians push against and sometimes blow past these limits. As capital demands repetition and strict reproduction aesthetically, we create noise and difference. As capital limits the physical space for artistic expression, creative artists organize and create their own spaces. This way of playing and relating recognizes that the insidious boot-straps narrative about the individual musical genius is only a destructive ideology that does not reflect the reality of our interdependence materially and emotionally.

I agree with George Lewis when he says “Noise and noisers routinely overflow the banks of propriety, resisting and unleashing. People hear the sound and say ‘no one told me it could be like that; I wonder what else they haven’t told me… once they start down that road, thoughts inevitably turn to what else might need to be different.” And, of course this alone is not enough. We will be working on borrowed time until we deal with our problems at the root. Our self organization and aesthetic convictions alone cannot get to it. We must take up explicitly political activity aimed at changing the exploitative power relations inherent under capitalism. Working through a democratic socialist lens, the movement around Bernie Sanders gets at the root of the contradictions of capitalism by addressing the contradiction between use value and exchange value in the commodity form. A Bernie Presidency and the movement it would empower would not only mean the arts truly flourishing in our country, but would end much of the domination caused by capitalism through erasing student debt, providing access to affordable housing, and making healthcare a human right. This compilation Amalgam is putting out to fundraise for Bernie’s historic democratic socialist presidential campaign - a historic movement that belongs to all of us - is an offering in that direction. While we volunteer our own time and money in this fight, we want this compilation to be an explicit recognition that our cultural activity as creative musicians is part of what compels us to undertake political action to help build a democratic socialist world. One with greater democracy everywhere, greater access to the basic needs for a dignified life (including access to education and cultural spaces), and where there is freedom from all forms of state violence based on race, religion, gender expression, or otherwise. The time is now. berniesanders.com/volunteer  

credits

released March 10, 2020

Love In Outerspace by the Paul Giallorenzo Trio
Paul Giallorenzo - Piano
Josh Abrams - Bass
Mikel Avery - Drums
Recorded at the Hungry Brain on 5/13/17 by Bill Harris
Mixed/mastered by Bill Harris
"Love In Outerspace" written by Sun Ra (Sun Ra/Enterplanetary Koncepts, BMI)

Devouring the Guilt at Jamdek, 1/20/18
Gerrit Hatcher - Tenor saxophone
Eli Namay - Bass
Bill Harris - Drums
Recorded at Jamdek on 1/20/18 by Doug Malone
Mixed by Doug Malone
Mastered by Bill Harris

JayVe Montgomery at Slate Arts, 3/27/19
Recorded at Slate Arts on 3/27/19 by Bill Harris
Mixed/mastered by Bill Harris

Clausen/Heinemann/Hunton at Elastic Arts, 11/26/18
Sarah Clausen - Alto saxophone
Jakob Heinemann - Bass
Emerson Hunton - Drums
Recorded at Elastic Arts 11/26/18 by Bill Harris
Mixed/mastered by Bill Harris

Clinkman/Young/Kirshner at Cafe Mustache, 1/10/18
Andrew Clinkman - Guitar
Andrew Scott Young - Bass
Julian Kirshner - Drums
Recorded at Cafe Mustache on 1/10/18 by Bill Harris
Mixed/mastered by Bill Harris

Keefe Jackson & Didier Petit at Agitator Gallery, 11/19/18
Keefe Jackson - Tenor saxophone and bass clarinet
Didier Petit - Cello and voice
Recorded at Agitator Gallery on 11/19/18 by Bill Harris
Mixed/mastered by Bill Harris

Berman/Badenhorst/Baker/Lopez/Harris at Hungry Brain, 1/29/20
Josh Berman - Cornet
Joachim Badenhorst - Clarinet
Jim Baker - Piano
Brandon Lopez - Bass
Bill Harris - Drums
Recorded at Hungry Brain on 1/29/20 by Dave Zuchowski
Mixed/mastered by Bill Harris

Je'raf - Throw neck

in

CASSETTE TAPES AVAILABLE AT NO INDEX RECORDS HERE:
noindex.bandcamp.com/album/throw-neck


Danceable woke conspiracy theory noise hip-hop metal jazz funk monologue-core. Je'raf is a Chicago/New York based band that formed in 2017. They combine hip hop, funk, and free jazz elements into tightly arranged songs that leave room for improvisation and looseness, while incorporating critical and satirical social commentary on police, conspiracy theories, religion, cults, and the emergence and trajectory of the American Bro.

Je'raf has held a monthly residency at Cafe Mustache in Chicago since July of 2019, playing every third Tuesday of the month. Their debut record, Throw Neck, is set to release this February 29 (LEAP YEAR!) at the Hungry Brain, with a split release on both Amalgam and No Index Records based in Chicago.

Formed in 2017, art-rock ensemble Je'raf arrange bits of hip-hop, jazz, funk, and postpunk into whimsical, progressive jams. All seven members (they're split between New York and Chicago) play in similarly animated, eccentric bands outside of the group too--bassist and vocalist PT Bell is in art-punk unit Blacker Face, for instance, and vocalist Brianna Tong fronts jazz-fusion group Cordoba. On Saturday, February 39, local labels Amalgam and No Index release Je'raf's rambunctious and politically charged debut album, Throw Neck. That night they celebrate with a headlining set at Hungry Brain; Udababy opens.

By J.R. Nelson for the Chicago Reader

Recorded at Pallet Sound by Seth Engel on February 2 and 3, 2019. Mixed and mastered by /jə'raf/
Design and layout by /jə'raf/
Artwork by Jordan Martins
Photo by Rachel Winslow

/jə'raf/ is:
Brianna Tong - Vocals
PT Bell - Vocals, bass
Ishmael Ali - Guitar, electronics
David Fletcher - Trombone
Wills McKenna - Saxophone
Eli Namay - Bass
Bill Harris - Drums, percussion, Microkorg

noindexrecords.com
amalgamusic.org  

credits

released February 29, 2020

license

all rights reserved

Vibrating Skull Trio / Hoogland-Packard Split - Seed Blunt / AC DC

in

A cassette split with Vibrating Skull Trio & Packard/Hoogland

released May 17, 2018

Vibrating Skull Trio:
John McCowen - Bb clarinet & resonator
Eli Namay - prepared guitar
Phil Sudderberg - drum kit

////

Oscar Jan Hoogland - electric clavicord
Ryan Packard - electric drums

Eli Namay (solo) - A ≠ A

in

A ≠ A is a set of recordings and critical theory that serve as an attempt to soberly position myself in the world both culturally and politically. The writing portion of A ≠ A is an examination of the nature of symbols in relation to the human brain, how symbols constitute large scale class based societies, and what that might mean for struggles both culturally and politically. I make the case for understanding political struggle and cultural struggle as representing two distinct yet interrelated activities, each affecting the other but ultimately having distinct scopes. While the writing represents an offering in the realm of political struggle the recording is an offering in the realm of cultural struggle. Through the strategic deconstruction and reconstitution of familiar cultural symbols the recording will hopefully allow folks who are not necessarily immersed in experimental music traditions to viscerally experience the possibility for creative activity outside of the aesthetic logics of both the commercial market and the ivory tower. As well as illustrating how dominant value systems (ideology) function in a society dominated by monetary exchange value, the writing in turn critiques this kind of cultural activity as, although necessary, inadequate on its own for the liberation of humanity from both direct and abstract domination. For this project the decision to present the recording and writing side by side, but at a formal distance, is not an arbitrary one. It is based on my analysis of the distinct scopes of cultural and political struggle, and hopefully illustrates a hew type of dialectical communication that does not settle into static images for the sake of ontological comfort, or organizational or careerist expedience. 

credits

released May 17, 2018

Eli Namay - Upright and Electric Bass, Design, Engineering & Production
Alexa Rixon - Design and Printing

All music by Eli Namay except "Ducks on the Pond" (traditional) and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (Harold Arlen & Y.E. Harburg)

"Two Europeans" was recorded at High Concept Labs

Fractal Selves - Weeks/Corder/Namay/Harris

in

Tom Weeks - Alto saxophone
Nathan Corder - Electronics
Eli Namay - Upright and electric bass
Bill Harris - Drums, percussion, duct tape

Recorded live at the Music Garage on April 22, 2018.

Recorded/engineered by Bill Harris.
Mixed/mastered by Eli Namay and Bill Harris.

Artwork by Dan McDonald Studios.

Speech samples from Rick Roderick's lecture "Fatal Strategies."

This recording sees Bay Area improvisers Tom Weeks (alto saxophone) and Nathan Corder (electronics) team up with Chicago improvisers Eli Namay (upright and electric bass) and Bill Harris (drums) to document their first meeting in Chicago in April of 2018. The quartet maneuvers between brutal, apocalyptic bop soundscapes and textural pointillism, with improvisations largely framed by a concise and miniature format.

Tom Weeks is a composer, improviser, and saxophonist from the San Francisco Bay Area, CA. He has received a Bachelor's degree in Jazz Composition from Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA, and a Master's degree in Composition from Mills College, Oakland, CA. He has studied with Roscoe Mitchell, Fred Frith, Zeena Parkins, Pauline Oliveros, Chris Brown, W.A. Mathieu, Steve Adams, Richard Evans, Phil Wilson, and Greg Hopkins, among others. His music is influenced by various African-American musical traditions, the historical avant-garde, and the heavy metal and hardcore traditions; utilizing improvisation, extended techniques, and traditional and experimental notational practices.

Nathan Corder is an Oakland-based composer of works for electronics, objects, and arrays of people. Focusing on translational procedures, transduction, and process-based composition, Corder’s music has been performed throughout the U.S. and abroad. Active as a composer and improviser on custom-designed electronics and guitar, Corder has collaborated with artists such as Roscoe Mitchell, William Winant, Jaap Blonk, and Tatsuya Nakatani. He is also an active member of the bands TONED, monopiece, Nude Tayne, and Jitters.

Eli Namay has been working to develop a musical practice that is informed by critical theory and political activism. Artistically, he is particularly focused on how cultural and economic symbols mediate social relations (ideology, social reproduction, etc). Eli is interested in exploring ways economic and ideological influences on music might be disrupted artistically, thus creating a genuinely creative practice that is emotionally healing for both the listener and practitioner. This has led him to an interest in non/pan-idiomatic improvisation, experimental notation that gives rise to a multiplicity of outcomes, and the use of liminal perceptual frameworks.

Bill Harris is a drummer, composer, improviser, and audio engineer from Pittsburgh currently based in Chicago. He is an active member of Chicago's improvised and creative music scene, whose music has been featured at venues such as Constellation, Elastic Arts, The Hungry Brain, The Hideout, and many others. He co-leads groups such as Four Letter Words, Devouring the Guilt, and Bowlcut, and currently operates and produces for Amalgam, an independent, 100% artist-run collective and label, documenting creative and improvised music in Chicago. Bill also runs an independent recording studio, contributing as a producer and as a multi-instrumentalist on studio sessions. 

Devouring the Guilt

in

Recorded live at the Empty Bottle, Chicago, on April 8, 2017.

Gerrit Hatcher - Tenor saxophone
Eli Namay - Upright and electric bass
Bill Harris - Drums

Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Bill Harris.

Ice cream photographs by Julia Dratel.


www.amalgamusic.org



Much of the new energy injected into Chicago's bustling free-jazz and improvised-music scenes over the past year or two has come from a small group of players associated with Amalgam Music, a modest local label run by drummer Bill Harris. His efforts have introduced me to the music of pianist Matt Piet and saxophonist Gerrit Hatcher, among others, and members of the circle to which they belong have made themselves ubiquitous at local spots such as Elastic, Slate Arts, and Constellation. Amalgam also serves a documentary function, preserving these performers' work and allowing for its wider dissemination—some of the music on the label is free improvisation, which is almost always most meaningful in a live setting, but certain performances are worth returning.

On Friday the label will issue just such a recording by local free-improvising trio Devouring the Guilt, aka Hatcher, Harris, and bassist Eli Namay. They recorded the self-titled two-track album live at the Empty Bottle in April, infusing its scrappy, seat-of-the-pants feel and muscular attack with a biting energy that's hard to resist. Hatcher brings plenty of power to his tenor blowing, but the band engages in refined interaction at every turn. When I wrote about a solo tape that Hatcher released earlier this year, I mentioned his engagement with New York free jazz from the late 60s and early 70s—he dedicated pieces to Frank Lowe and Frank Wright—but in Devouring the Guilt he feels rooted less in that sound and more in a visceral, abstract, gesture-based style that's redolent of European improvised music. His improvisations suggest an awareness of Evan Parker's extended techniques and Peter Brötzmann's titanic force, but he does more than assimilate influences: he plays with a clear narrative flow, punctuated by nifty interludes where he toys with a phrase like a cat with a mouse.

As a rhythm section, Namay and Harris are knotty, surging, and explosive, propelling and prodding the saxophonist with an unstinting barrage of motion and sound. Below you can check out the shorter of the album's two pieces, "Pineapple Sorbet." The trio celebrate the release of Devouring the Guilt on Wednesday night Elastic, where the program also includes sets by the Angel Bat Dawid Trio, a duo of guitarist Andrew Clinkmann and vocalist Carol Genetti, and DJ Makamena.

- Peter Margasak, Post No Bills @ The Chicago Reader
www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2017/11/14/devouring-the-guilt-injects-new-energy-into-chicagos-free-jazz-scene


Devouring the Guilt (Amalgam Music 012; USA) Featuring Gerrit Hatcher on tenor sax, Eli Namay on upright & electric bass and Bill Harris on drums. This session was recorded live at the Empty Bottle in Chicago in April of 2017. As the Chicago underground jazz scene continues to expand, a number of new names have been popping up. In the nineties and after, saxists like Ken Vandermark, Dave Rempis, Mars Williams, David Boykins and Keefe Jackson, have paved the way for the next generation of free/jazz interpreters. Tenor saxist Gerrit Hatcher is a prime contender for the next batch. Although I don’t recognize the names of any of the members of his current trio, I am quite impressed. This disc contains two long pieces, each filled with fire, invention and creative spirits. Although it begins with Ayleresque, fire-spitting intensity, the trio quickly slows down to a thoughtful, contemplative pace, all three players swirling tightly together. More than half century later (1964, actually), the shadow of Albert Ayler’s ‘Spiritual Unity’ still looms over a trio like this. There are moments of somber, solo, unaccompanied tenor which balance the the more explosive sections just right. After listening to a dozen great recent discs from Clean Feed several times, as well as Mars Williams’ ‘Ayler/Christmas’ CD, I must admit that this disc is as impressive at capturing that powerful free/jazz spirit/force as anything released in the past year. We just got five copies for now so don’t miss out on this most modest, under-recognized treasure.

- Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
www.downtownmusicgallery.com/newsletter_detail.php?newsID=632

A brilliant set of improvisational jazz from Chicago scene – recorded live at the Empty Bottle in the spring of 2017! Devouring The Guilt is a trio featuring Gerrit Hatcher on tenor sax, Eli Namay on both upright and electric bass, and Bill Harris on drums – showing impressive depth and range on the nearly hour long (and compelling the whole way) "Fresh Hour Scrod" and the shorter, equally compelling "Pineapple Sorbet". The former comes roaring right out of the gate, with the group showing an agile mix of ferocious energy and limber interplay throughout. The latter starts out slower and sweeter, as you might gather from its title, and builds to a heavier end in its 8+ minutes.

Featured at Dusty Groove Records, Chicago
www.dustygroove.com/item/880945?sf=devouring+the+guilt&incl_oos=1&incl_cs=1&kwfilter=devouring+the+guilt&sort_order=artist  

released November 15, 2017

Vibrating Skull Trio

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VS3's debut release on Gilded Records
A selection of improvisations culled from a summer's worth of recordings

Recorded by Eli Namay
Mixed by Eli Namay and Phil Sudderberg
Mastered by Dan Pierson

released October 15, 2016

Vibrating Skull Trio is...

John McCowen -- clarinet and drum resonator
Eli Namay -- upright bass and prepared guitar
Phil Sudderberg -- drumset

Entropy EP & An Object that is Not Oriented - Namay /Sudderberg

in

Entropy Ep was recorded in the Bridgeport Neighborhood apartment of Eli & Phil, spring 2015. AOtiNO was recorded in their Bridgeport practice space shortly thereafter. AOtiNO was written for the duo by Alex Grimes. It consists of decoupled physical parameters depicted on several staves for each instrument, utilizing a proprietary mix of traditional notation and line tablature.

credits

released February 2016

Eli Namay - upright bass
Phil Sudderberg - drums & percussion
Alex Grimes - composition (An Object that is Not Oriented)

Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Eli Namay.