Customer Reviews

12 Degrees of Freedom

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"12 Degrees Of Freedom" can be called "early Chicago Underground" because this, "Possible Cube", and "Flamethrower" are very free and minimal. I begin to like the Chicago Underground better with "Synethesia" and all of the other CD's that came out since then. The early stuff is too abstract for my tastes. The freedom of songs like "The Pursued" may be steak and potatoes for some people, but not for me. "Not Quite Dark..." is minimal, with piano, vibes, and a little guitar sneaking in. "January 15th" is the longest, and best, song on the CD. It starts with a sample of Martin Luther King's "We Shall Overcome" speech and a Chad Taylor drumbeat. When Rob Mazurek comes in, his trumpet playing has a recurring motif. Mazurek comes in and out, but Taylor's steady pulse is there throughout. "The Big Bang Theory" and "Waiting For You..." are minimalist. Mazurek plays free trumpet over Taylor's floor tom rolls on the title track. "Lemon Grass" has a little more Jeff Parker playing guitar, and "Gratitude" is also minimal. I recommend this CD to fans of the earlier-style of Chicago Underground - people who like the later, more post-rock-influenced Chicago Underground may want to be more cautious.

this is the most important album of CUD.Almost, the feeling and the imagination in this record is a infinite expierence, based in the IMPROVISATION,i believe that, A CAN FEEL IT !!!!.LEMON GRASS,12 degrees of freedom and the pursued, beautiful songs that shows a minimal sound, combinated with spaces of nothingness.you can hear a VOID and feel your room like that! nothing? but the duo is great!

Sad to say, the Chicago Underground Duo is no longer...Rob Manzurek has moved on to "greener pastures" in New York I think. It is becoming something of a Chicago cliche...record and record and record, establish a reputation, and then move! This is our loss here in the Windy City because the Underground Duo was certainly a great improv group.

This recording is my favorite of this band. Less indebted to electronica, most of this album is just Manzurek on coronet and Taylor on either drums or vibes. The atmosphere on the disc is open and spacious. This is not "blow your socks off" energy jazz. Rather it is moody and thoughtful, reminisent of Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell's classic duo Mu. At times, Manzurek can sound almost like Miles in his early jazz rock days. At other times you can hear the Duo's origins in traditional bop. But mostly the album is unlike any other free improvised music, at least here in Chicago. It has heart and a brain and is endlessly fascinating to hear.

In a town where free music is increasingly dominated by imitators of Ken Vandermark, at least on the North Side, it was refreshing to hear something based on a different aesthetic. Here's wishing Rob Manzurek luck in New York. And at least we have this lovely CD.

The Chicago Underground Duo's discs are among the best recordings in my massive collection of many genres. This album is more sublime when compared to Synesthesia or the Trio/Orchestra albums. Mazareck and Taylor seem more subdued and dreamy. This is a wonderful thing. Just as fabulous as the explosive and sputtering excitement of Synesthesia but with more space and a slower agenda. CUD will become a historical collaboration. Collect them all.

Call me a snob but I think that the group of Chicago bands with the same pool of rotating members (Herndon, Bitney, Parker, Brown...) tend to be better the further they get away from rock music. The determined originality of Gastr del Sol, the dub-informed prog-pulse exercises of Tortoise, and the vivacious post-bop explorations of the Vandermark 5 are all free of rock's often stultifying straightjacket. This particular duo is Chad Taylor on percussion and vibes with Rob Mazurek on cornet (mainly.)Mazurek marries the bebop heritage to Morton Feldman, and their baby is beautiful. These nine cuts are sparse and largely improvised so the album doesn't come across as a grand statement, but rather more like research. If you have the time and money to pick up a little thing like this then do it. If not, then every two months there will be a dozen more from the Windy City clique, who apparently record and release every stage of their progress. -- Jack Walton, Popwatch magazine #10