The NRG Ensemble's Annual "Hal-the-Weenie" Concert at The Hungry Brain

About

The NRG Ensemble was formed in the late 1970s by Hal Russell (1926-1992), a journeyman drummer who’d been seduced in his 40s by the siren sounds of Albert Ayler and took up the saxophone. Russell and the younger musicians he recruited into NRG kept free jazz alive in Chicago during the lean years of the 80’s, playing their face-peeling tunes—characterized by tight horn charts, woolly solos, and a prankish sense of humor. Furiously swinging saxophone exchanges between Mars Williams and Dave Rempis reinvent the concept of the “tenor battle”. Brian Sandstrom’s rotation between electric guitar, acoustic bass and trumpet, Steve Hunt’s inventive drumming and Kent Kessler’s strong, muscular bass propels the group forward.