Ra Bishop

"In the early 1990s, trombonist Jeb Bishop became an essential part of Chicago’s musically and geographically outward-looking jazz community. His mastery of the full spectrum of trombone language, from earthy melody to abstract sound effects, made him indispensable in every band he joined—including the Vandermark 5, Peter Brötzmann’s Chicago Tentet, School Days, and Engines—and the indelible quality of his compositions made his recordings with his own bands landmarks of the era. Bishop left Chicago for a decade in 2012, spending years in North Carolina and then Massachusetts, where he forged enduring relationships with saxophonist Jorrit Dijkstra and pianist Pandelis Karayorgis. When he returned to town in 2022, he knew that he couldn’t just pick up where he left off. As he told the Reader at the time, “It’s not gonna be like I’ve never left, and I don’t want it to be. You can’t go back like that. Chicago’s not the same. I’m not the same.”

While Bishop has kept up ties with old mates, including drummers Tim Daisy and Weasel Walter, his new ensemble Ra Bishop features two players affiliated with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (a community he didn’t engage with much before his move) and another who was still in high school when Bishop left town. Avreeayl Ra first played with Bishop shortly after his return, when the drummer joined the Chicago Edge Ensemble led by guitarist Dan Phillips; since the 1960s, Ra has contributed his versatile and dynamic playing to the music of Sun Ra, Phil Cohran, Nicole Mitchell, and countless others. Woodwinds and didgeridoo player Edward Wilkerson Jr. has led intriguingly orchestrated ensembles such as Shadow Vignettes and Eight Bold Souls since the 1980s, and he’s a vital participant in the total improv collective Extraordinary Popular Delusions. And since moving to Chicago in 2022, pianist Erez Dessel has become a ubiquitous presence in ad hoc improvising groups as well a member of Ken Vandermark’s Edition Redux. Ra Bishop’s debut CD, Of the Essence (Amalgam), features a quartet set recorded live at the Hungry Brain last year; the download adds a set without Dessel, who arrived late from a recording session elsewhere in town. The music is completely improvised, but the ensemble transitions fluidly between complex pointillism, earthy grooving, and primal shamanism while patiently developing each aspect of the music. This concert celebrates the album’s release." - Bill Meyer