Kalia Vandever & Dave Harrington
For the guitarist Dave Harrington, improvising is a way of life, a method for moving through and interacting with the world. He rarely leaves his home in Los Angeles for a gig, as he does several nights each week, with prepared material; he simply responds to the room, the players, the moment. Harrington grew up in New York, a young and voracious bassist bouncing between jam-band shows, big rock gigs, and improv sets at places like Tonic, realizing they were all part of the same continuum. In college, he met Nicolas Jaar and soon started Darkside, the electronic duo whose magnetic songs seem built from blocks of minimal techno, acid jazz, kosmische, and city pop. That has long been only part of Harrington’s wide-ranging creative practice, though, from leading the exploratory Dave Harrington Group to his stint in the magnificent Taper’s Choice, from his session work with the likes of Alanis Morissette and Cassandra Jenkins to projects alongside Patrick Shiroishi, Robert Walter, and Chris Forsyth. Harrington is a spectacular guitarist who always seems to be in search of a novel situation, some setting to which he might adapt and learn.
Harrington first worked alongside Kalia Vandever rather than with them, when he invited the trombonist to open a pair of Darkside shows solo. After a subsequent invitation to make an improvisational duo record for Sudden Quarterly, the label of his pal Spencer Zahn, Vandever seemed like a promising choice. Their forthcoming and beguiling LP, Evergreen, swivels between two modes—crystalline and beautiful pieces that evoke Bills Evans and Frisell, as on “Folks” or “Everything Is Open,” and electronics-ruptured tonal explorations, like the walloping “The Chase” or the dub-versus-trombone slow dance “Approach.” This is the result of two inquisitive and excellent players, showing up in a new situation, trusting that they will find ways forward together, and then following them. Vandever plays a set of their own material at Big Ears 2027, while Harrington leads the improv fantasy team Pranksters South and joins a trio with Jay Bellerose and Billy Mohler.
