On paper it’s just a small line-up, with Rob Mazurek on piccolo trumpet and Chad Taylor on drums, but together they create a sonic universe. On their most recent album Hyperglyph they do that with the help of synthesizers, samplers and an arsenal of percussion instruments. And on stage as well they mix and match experimental sounds with rhythms from all over the globe.

Mazurek and Taylor formed their duo thirty years ago in Chicago, linking the progressive jazz scene in the city with the upcoming post-rock of bands such as Tortoise. Since then they have moved on to other cities and bands. Mazurek founded large ensembles such as Exploding Star Orchestra and Taylor collaborated with the likes of anderen jaimie branch, Marc Ribot en James Brandon Lewis. Hyperglyph, their first duo album in eleven years, was released on the trendsetting Chicago-based label International Anthem.

‘Cycling synthesizer tones add pulsing polyphonies, electronic treatments warp brass and beats like a funhouse mirror, and thumb pianos drift through the mix like rogue clouds raining luminescent but needle-sharp metallic tones.’ (Downbeat).

‘On their first album as a two-piece in eleven years they reassert their folk-rooted futurism, setting free-form trumpet-drums duets alongside pulsing electroacoustic grooves and blissful thumb-piano interludes, imbuing it all with surreal wonder’ (New York Times).

Rob Mazurek trumpet, Chad Taylor drums