NRG Ensemble

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NRG Ensemble was an American free jazz ensemble founded in the late 1970s by saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell. [1] [2]

Contents

The group's personnel was somewhat fluid, but included a core of drummer Steve Hunt, saxophonist Mars Williams, guitarist/trumpeter Brian Sandstrom, and bassist Kent Kessler. [3] Their music kept free jazz alive in Chicago throughout the 1980s, when it had largely disappeared from the jazz landscape. [2] Russell was the primary composer, but the other musicians contributed songs as well. Their punning song and album titles (Conserving NRG, Hal on Earth) reflected the humor that permeated Russell's music.

After Russell's death in 1992, the NRG Ensemble recruited saxophonist Ken Vandermark as a replacement, recording three more albums under the leadership of Williams.

Discography

Personnel

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Conserving NRG is an album by American avant-garde jazz composer, bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell recorded in 1984 and released on the Principally Jazz label.

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Hoofbeats of the Snorting Swine is an album by Cinghiale, a reed duo composed of Mars Williams and Ken Vandermark, which was released in 1996 on Eighth Day Music. At the time of recording Vandermark was member of the post-Hal Russell NRG Ensemble under Williams' leadership.

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<i>The Chicago Octet/Tentet</i> 1998 live album by Peter Brötzmann

The Chicago Octet/Tentet is a live album by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann on which he is joined by two large ensembles known as the Chicago Octet and Tentet. Six tracks were recorded live at The Empty Bottle in Chicago on January 29, 1997, and September 17, 1997, while the remaining six tracks were recorded at AirWave Studio in Chicago on September 16, 1997. The album was released in 1998 as a limited-edition three-CD set by the Okka Disk label, and, in addition to Brötzmann, features saxophonists Mats Gustafsson, Joe McPhee, Ken Vandermark, and Mars Williams, trombonist Jeb Bishop, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, double bassist Kent Kessler, and drummers Hamid Drake and Michael Zerang.

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American Landscapes, volumes 1 and 2, is a pair of live albums by the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, led by saxophonist Brötzmann, and featuring an ten-piece ensemble. Documenting performances of two large-scale works, they were recorded on May 28, 2006, at Le Weekend in the Tolbooth at Stirling, Scotland, and were released on CD in 2007 by Okka Disk. On the albums, Brötzmann is joined by saxophonists Mats Gustafsson and Ken Vandermark, trumpeter and saxophonist Joe McPhee, trombonist Johannes Bauer, tubist Per-Ake Holmlander, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, double bassists Kent Kessler and William Parker, and drummers Paal Nilssen-Love and Michael Zerang.

References

  1. "Jazz Musician Hal Russell, 66; Headed NRG Ensemble" (obituary), Chicago Sun-Times, September 9, 1992.
  2. 1 2 Margasak, Peter. The Undiminished Power of Hal Russell's NRG Ensemble at Chicago Reader
  3. Allmusic
  4. NRG Ensemble - Bejazzo Gets a Facelift at Discogs