Large Unit- FB
In a recent Off The Cuff interview, Hal Rammel waxed optimistic about the future of improvised music in Milwaukee: “There has been an explosion of interest and activity in the past few years that puts Milwaukee on par with Chicago.” June alone held Okka Fest 7, Utech Records Music Festival, Unrehearsed MKE, Seed Sounds, Alternating Currents Live and Formations.
Capping off this miraculous month of creative music is a performance by prolific Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love’s big band. Impishly christened Large Unit, the 12-piece Nordic ensemble was formed in 2013 and released their debut album, “Erta Ale,” the following year to great acclaim. In one such rave review received, Euan Andrews wrote, “Big band jazz just took another evolutionary step.” And so it is: devotees of Swing Era Big Bands (e.g. Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Tommy Dorsey… there is perhaps more in common with the inimitable Ellington) will find Large Unit to possess no less firepower, but aimed at an entirely different target. Large Unit is fluent in the language of free jazz and, liberated from traditional conceptions of structure and approaches to improvisation, the ensemble explores all the sonic resources and permutations its lineup allows.
After several weeks of touring North America in three vans with enough gear to outfit a school district, Large Unit will be playing at the Sugar Maple in Bay View on June 24 at 7 p.m. The show comes at the tail end of the tour - significant insofar as the delirium of deep fatigue, the heightened musical rapport of consistent gigging and even the inevitable straining of a co-traveler's patience are a combustible combination that promise a night of gripping music.
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The months ahead have more in store. July, for instance, marks the beginning of a new experimental music series: Option Milwaukee. This monthly meeting of musical minds convenes at the venerable Sugar Maple with performances for July through September announced, each of which features Chicago reedman Ken Vandermark in a pas de deux with various musicians: percussionist Tim Barnes (July 19), trumpeter Nate Wooley (August 2) and the aforementioned Paal Nilssen-Love (September 6).
