Limited print & availability LP version of this album. Your order comes with an instant download of the album including extra tracks not available on the LP.
Beautiful original painting by Via Nuon, with design by Via Nuon and Shelia Sachs.
Includes unlimited streaming of Quartet : Vortices
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 5 days
edition of 125
Purchasable with gift card
$20USDor more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Limited availability CD version of this album. Beautiful original painting by Via Nuon, with design by Via Nuon and Shelia Sachs.
Includes unlimited streaming of Quartet : Vortices
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 5 days
edition of 100
Purchasable with gift card
$12USDor more
Streaming + Download
Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
Tenor saxophonist Nate Lepine has been a regular fixture of the Chicago jazz, improvised music and rock scenes since the early 1990s. Known to date primarily for his work as a go-to sideman, he has appeared on over three dozen recordings by a wide range of artists including indie mainstays Cursive and Iron and Wine, and alt rock outfit Poi Dog Pondering. While ably lending his instrumental voice to these and many other popular projects, Lepine, whose true calling is jazz, has spent years cultivating his own music, building a repertoire of original compositions and performing frequently on the circuit of Chicago jazz clubs as an improviser. In the fall of 2014, the time had come to document the culmination of those efforts, and Lepine assembled a first-rate quartet to record ten of his compositions at Strobe Studio in Chicago. The result of that two day session is his long awaited debut album as a bandleader, Vortices.
The musicians Lepine chose to help him realize his vision – alto saxophonist Nick Mazzarella (Nick Mazzarella Trio), bassist Clark Sommers (Kurt Elling, BaSH) and drummer Quin Kirchner (Wilde Belle, NOMO) – were selected from the community of fiercely talented players that thrive in Chicago’s active jazz and improvised music scene. Each is a bandleader in his own right, and together they display uncommon versatility in their interpretation of Lepine’s eclectic originals. The quartet plays with a balance of virtuosity and soul all too rare in modern jazz, and Lepine has left plenty of room for each musician to contribute his personality to the material, while leading the way with his own distinctive, vocal-like tenor sound.
There is a diverse array of musical content throughout Vortices, from carefully crafted counterpoint, to bass-driven grooves and catchy horn riffs, to freely improvised passages. This variety reflects Lepine’s aesthetic, which is informed by his travels as a journeyman, his devotion to the art and craft of playing the saxophone, and a passion for the jazz idiom itself. Lepine brings to bear his many years of experience in the music industry on this first offering under his own name, and it is plain to hear the wait was worth it.
Recorded by Nick Broste at Strobe Studios, Chicago IL USA
Mixed by Nick Broste at Shape Shoppe, Chicago IL USA
Mastered by Peter Andreadis at All City Mastering, Chicago IL USA
All music composed by Nate Lepine (NaLe Music ASCAP)
Chicago-based tenor saxophonist/ composer Nate Lepine has been a steady figure of the city's music scene since the early 90s
and is an important contributor to its active jazz community, leading groups who are the primary vehicles for his compositional output. Sideman with Nick Mazzarella, Quin Kirchner, and Herculaneum. Lepine has also recorded, performed and toured with Cursive and Iron & Wine....more
supported by 23 fans who also own “Quartet : Vortices”
Really this album is a masterclass in Hard-Bop, Post-Bop, Spiritual jazz, and soul jazz all wrapped up in a impressively cohesive package.
It pays tribute to those that came before while still keeping an eye to the future/past. ATrott
supported by 19 fans who also own “Quartet : Vortices”
Simply amazing to hear a new album with Wadada and Ewart!! ...And Reed rounds out this trio beautifully.
Just gave it my first spin. Absolutely magical. jeffrey maurer
Florida improv collective Madre Vaca construct four long-form chamber jazz movements, each tied to a specific element. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 16, 2021
Composer Asuka Kikitani was inspired by the vibrant nature of Minnesota to construct this gorgeous calendar cycle of percussive works. Bandcamp New & Notable May 30, 2023
Jazz quintet Stepping Up display their dedication to the genre's history as well as the development of their own voices on this new LP. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 12, 2021
supported by 18 fans who also own “Quartet : Vortices”
Received my copy of the second pressing today, and it is stunning.
Flat, centered, dead quiet surfaces, and shockingly good sound.
A triumph of craftsmanship.
Well worth the wait.
And the music, of course, is an incredible contemporary Chicago celebration. mats gunnars