The Engines is a collaborative quartet founded in the spring of 2005. The group began as trio, featuring three mainstays of the Chicago improvised music scene: Dave Rempis on saxophones, Nate McBride on bass, and Tim Daisy on drums. In the spring of 2006, trombonist Jeb Bishop was added to the group for one concert. The dynamic of this lineup worked so well that Bishop immediately became a regular member of the band. Since then, they have been honing their skills across Chicago at many of the venues associated with creative music, including the Empty Bottle, Hideout, Elastic, Hungry Brain, and the Velvet Lounge.
All of these musicians have distinguished themselves as leaders with their own groups, but formed this band to purposely shirk that duty in favor of a more equal musical relationship that better reflects the nature of their improvisations. Each member contributes original compositions to the group, providing a wide range of expression from high energy jousting over driving bass vamps to quieter moments of melodic exploration. With McBride on both acoustic and electric bass, the band can explore some of the sonic textures associated with the early AACM, or launch into hard-hitting Zeppelin-like grooves, and they use this range of possibilities to its fullest.
"The front line taps into the deep grooves carved out by the rhythm section, which frequently bumps into the blues without exactly embracing it. Rempis and Bishop unfurl plenty of muscular, searching solos, but my favorite parts are when the two get tangled in each other's lines: you can hear the years of experience at work in the way they support and challenge each other without getting in each other's way." - Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader
Dave Rempis (saxophones)