#sam wagster

[dustedmagazine]

Eli Winter — A Trick of the Light (Three Lobed)

Photo by Beth Kotz

Chicago guitarist Eli Winter steps well clear of the finger-picking box in this sprawling, full-band, electrified album, touching cosmic country through his partnership with Mute Duo pedal steel-ist Sam Wagster and jazz through a Chicago-heavy ensemble and covers of Don Cherry and Carla Bley.

The disc begins in the 17-minute epic, “Arabian Spring” a loose re-interpretation of a piece of the opening track to Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell’s “El Corazon.” The Cherry/Blackwell version, which is the final fragment of a four-song medley, is spare and full of negative space, Cherry’s piano dodging Blackwell’s percussive shrapnel, his trumpet making a brief, incendiary arc amid rhythmic bedlam. You could be forgiven for thinking it mostly a drum solo.

Winter’s take, by contrast, fills the space with droning, blues-y vamps, the drums (that’s Chicago improv mainstay Tyler Damon) a presence, not especially foregrounded. Instead, Chicago’s Gerritt Hatcher steps to the front with a torrid saxophone solo, then Winter himself shoulders in, in a slouching, driving guitar line, kept in line by Andrew Scott Young’s percussive bass line. The piece, as envisioned here, fluctuates like a holograph between jazz and blues-rock, slippery and hard to pin down, but on fire all the way through.

Winter has never seemed wholly comfortable in the confines of the Takoma-style world, but there is some very nice picking on the languid “For a Fallen Rocket,” his finger work eddying and flowing around Wagster’s pedal steel reveries. The combination of Winter’s rapid pointillism and Wagster’s elongated sustained tones makes for an intricately lyrical sound, filled out by drums, bass, piano and, again, Hatcher’s sax. “Cracking the Jaw” is earthier and lower pitched, the guitar growling and moaning like Ava Mendoza’s rock- and blues-scented improvisations. The title track builds blistered tones on rolling waves of percussion, bringing to mind the Dirty Three in its oceanic surge and heave.

The other jazz cover, Carla Bley’s “Ida Lupino” lands a bit closer to the source, the melody recognizable though voiced through the pitch-shifting intonations of pedal steel. It’s not jazz, not rock and certainly not Fahey-style picking, but vivid and exciting all the same.  

Jennifer Kelly

[musicmakesyousmart]

Sam Wagster - The Glossary of Surfing

Sequel

2016

[sweetblahg]

Mute Duo (Quintet): Empty Bottle 2019

Chicago’s Mute Duo "is Skyler Rowe (drums/percussion) and Sam Wagster (pedal steel). Building on simple composed melodies, Mute Duo explores an atmosphere ranging from sparse chimes to pummeling drone with a free, rhythmic fluidity. In 2017, they released their self-titled debut album featuring artwork by local artist/writer Dmitry Samarov, and 2018′s ‘Axially Grasp’ EP on Lurkerbias.” I just ganked the official bio because I sure as shit couldn’t do better. Mute Duo rips, always...and on this night were joined by a trio of Chicago zoners for 38minutes of wide-open group improvisation that covered an incredible amount of ground.  Mute Duo (Quintet) 8.22.2019 @ The Empty Bottle Chicago, IL improvisation Mute Duo: Skyler Rowe - drums/percusison Sam Wagster - pedal steel with... Jessie Smith - electronics Mars Williams - tenor sax Andrew Scott Young - upright bass stream download

[buttererer]

Set 1 (excerpt) Jim Dorling - Bass Clarinet Sam Wagster - Synthesizer Brent Gutzeit - Baschet's Aluminum Piano Recorded live at The Museum Of Contemporary Art - Chicago October 8, 2011

[whistlerchicago]

Coming next week on Whistler Records:

Glad Cloud Ambient Music Series, Volume One

Gaspra (Nick Broste and Tyson Torstensen of Magical, Beautiful & Ga'an) "Voyager I"

Sam Wagster "Same Size, Same Age"

Bill MacKay "15 Summers"

Male "Bash Bros."

Fred Lonberg-Holm and Gonzo Almeida "Space Invader"

Matt Christensen (of Zelienople) "America Trusts"

Estesombelo "We Live in an Old Chaos"

Tim Kinsella “That Cloud Sylvia Plath Talks About in ‘Morning Song’”

Jim Schoenecker (of Volcano Choir) "Maybe Marcahuasi"

White/Light with Steve Shelley "Kickless"

Dan Mohr "La Medée du Supermarché"

Matt Jencik (of Implodes) "The Orange Man"

Radiation Waves (Jeremiah Chiu of Icy Demons & Deep Sleep) "Radiation Waves"

This 90-minute collection of songs features artists and groups from the first three years of the Whistler's monthly ambient music series. To celebrate the release and the series' anniversary, we'll be hosting a three day Glad Cloud Ambient Music Festival on October 15, 16, and 17 with performances by White/Light, Solar Fox, Male, Justin Walter, Paul Giallorenzo, Bill MacKay/Leroy Bach Guitar Duo, and a synth quartet featuring Dan Mohr, Tyson Torstenson, Ben Babbitt, and Alex Inglizian. We hope to see you there!

—Billy

[veropie-blog]

Fruit Bats.

257/365 - September 14, 2011.