DKV Trio

Live in Wels & Chicago, 1998 is an incredible two-disc release from premiere Chicago musiciansHamid Drake, Kent Kessler, Ken Vandermark. These live recordings document some of the exciting -- and engaging -- live improvisations that make the DKV Trio one of the top groups in free jazz of the late 1990s and beyond. The only pre-composed theme used by the group is heard on the "Wels CD," disc one. It is the theme from Don Cherry's "Complete Communion," around which DKV base their six-part "Complete Communion Suite," performed at the Music Unlimited '98 Festival in Wels, Austria. By "Part 2" of the suite, the rhythm section is kicking a funky counter-emphasis leading into a drum solo before the wind down at the track's end. A bass solo opens "Part 3," which is also the section where DKV bring the suite to a full boil. A late November, 1998 concert at Fred Anderson's Velvet Lounge is heard on disc two, or the "Chicago CD." It opens with a bowed bass of circular overtones which is soon joined by hand drums and bass, along with a beautiful melody of patiently held saxophone notes. The band cooks, steams, and finally, screams with an all-out intensity and an urgency that lifts "Open Door." Next comes "Blues for Tomorrow," a soft and tasteful breather from which a clarinet blues eventually emerges. "Burning Sky" is a transcendent piece that opens with saxophone pulses, muted drum rolls, and bass bows for a slow and suspenseful, esoteric mood. The music continues to grow until, almost halfway through, it escalates into a storm of melodic grit chaos that's something like the climaxes of the Dirty Three. A must-have for those who believe music taps into -- and creates -- something greater. ~ Joslyn Layne, All Music Guide