Where
Tortoise-style indie rock and the Windy City's gradually more youthful jazz scene intersect lie
Chicago Underground Duo -- also known as Chicago Underground Orchestra and
Chicago Underground Trio with various lineups. The nominal leader, cornetist and keyboard player
Rob Mazurek, recorded three albums for Hep from 1994 to 1997. As Chicago's own indie rock sensation
Tortoise began leaning closer and closer to the city's improvisational and free jazz forbearers,
Mazurek began playing with them and appeared on the group's 1998 album, TNT. The first
Chicago Underground Duo album, recorded with drummer/vibraphonist
Chad Taylor in 1998, appeared on
Tortoise's Thrill Jockey label. The following year, the pair expanded to a trio with the addition of bassist
Noel Kupersmith and released
Possible Cube, on Delmark. ~ John Bush