Playing avant-garde jazz is a search without knowing what it is you are looking for. When Chris Weller's Hanging Hearts entered the studio to record their self-titled debut album, the trio brought a few compositions and a deep knowledge of the classics. Chris Weller (tenor saxophone), Devin Drobka (drums) and Cole DeGenova on keyboard/rhodes thrive on improvisation, adamant to keep going no matter what. After opening track D Rover runs out of stream around the four minutes mark, they exchange a few bars of musical soul searching and come back with a vengeance. With that snag out of the way they go easy on themselves with the sole cover, Ellington's The Single Petal of a Rose.
The Berklee graduates roam free for the remainder of the album - Cole DeGenova ups the ante with a John Medeski-alike rave up in Doo-wop, Weller locks into a groove with Drobka in the Fifties meet fusion of Early Bird. Wrapping things up with the left-field mellowness of Lucid Dream and Confucius Says, this trio covers a lot of ground. Serious but very much alive and adventurous, things are bound to get even get more interesting when they hit the road later this month.
Chris Weller's Hanging Hearts is a self-released album. Buy it from the band's website. Release date: October 24th.
Tracks:- D Rover
- The Single Petal of a Rose
- Doo-Wop
- Early Bird
- Lucid Dream
- Confucius Says
- 10/16 Black Sparrow, Lafayette, IN
- 10/17 Merriman’s Playhouse, South Bend, IN
- 10/24 Constellation, Chicago, IL
- 10/25 Jazz Estate, Milwaukee, WI
- 11/14 Hungry Brain Transmission Series, Chicago, IL
Chris Weller's Hanging Hearts will be playing in Europe (Poland, Czech Republic and Austria) in early 2015. More details tba.
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