House And Home signals the return of Wheelhouse—an improvising ensemble comprising saxophonist Dave Rempis, vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz and bassist Nate McBride—after a dozen-year hiatus. If you happened to catch the trio around Chicago between 2005 and 2013, Wheelhouse stood out from the musicians’ other projects for the relative restraint of its elegantly balanced sound, which was particularly remarkable because the band ditched composed material in favor of collective improvisation.
Despite its lengthy time on ice, originally instigated by McBride’s departure from Chicago around the time that the trio’s debut, Boss Of The Plains, was released in 2013, Wheelhouse was a pivotal ensemble in Rempis’ development for two reasons. The egoless lucidity of the trio’s sound significantly extended his stylistic reach, and the experience of having the album sit on a record company’s shelf for more than a year sparked Rempis’ decision to found his own label, Aerophonic.
Twelve years later, Wheelhouse’s follow-up longplayer is Aerophonic’s 46th physical release. The reunion is a consequence of the boomerang-like course of Adasiewicz’s own career. Following a period of intense activity as both a bandleader and collaborator with Nicole Mitchell, Rob Mazurek and Peter Brötzmann, Adasiewicz stepped way back to focus on family and non-musical work, then returned to public music-making on a more manageable level as the COVID pandemic subsided. Wheelhouse reunited for a Midwestern weekend tour in June 2024, and songs from two of the dates make up House And Home.
The trio does not quite pick up where it left off. Why would it? Everyone’s played and learned a lot elsewhere. Rempis has taken up a fourth saxophone, a soprano gifted to him by the late Mars Williams. The notoriously extroverted Adasiewicz hits a little less hard and also employs more unconventional techniques that add brittleness and contrast to his palette. And McBride has honed the clarity of his playing.
What endures, however, is the trio’s ability to spontaneously create music that projects emotional complexity and formal elegance. There’s an airborne quality to Rempis’ winding phrases on “Saltbox,” which float above the other musicians’ sauntering cadence. “Gingerbread” is more mercurial, shifting in color and pace. And the bold, ceremonial opening passage of “Sydney Opera” is one of the most lyrical and open-hearted things ever heard from Rempis. House And Home is a welcome return. [Aerophonic]
—Bill Meyer
