about

ALDRIC is an improvising collective featuring some of Chicago’s busiest musical improvisers.  Led by saxophonist AJ Kluth, ALDRIC borrows from jazz, rock, indie, world, and noise to make music that is by turns placid and smooth or aggressive and angular.  In addition to Kluth’s saxophone and melodica, the new album Anvils & Broken Bells features guitarist Toby Summerfield (Algernon, Crush Kill Destroy, Never Enough Hope), Trumpeter James Davis (Chicago Goes West, Zing!, Maurice), drummer Quin Kirchner (NOMO, Greg Ward Quartet, blink.) and bassist Dan Thatcher (Leaves, Leaf Bird).   ALDRIC incorporates acoustic and electronic elements and bears clear influence from contemporary luminaries Kneebody, Dave Douglas, and Bill Frisell in it’s penchant for melody, group improvisation, space, noise, and groove. 

A little more about the guys:

AJ Kluth/Saxophone & Melodica: AJ Kluth has been trying to get to the bottom of things for some time now.  Since graduating with a Masters degree in Jazz Saxophone Performance from DePaul University in 2006 AJ has been busy freelancing around Chicago working with diverse artists such as Chicago Afrobeat Project, Lauren Frost, the AJ Kluth Quintet, and L’Orchestre Super Vitesse.  While he's a musician because he can’t think of any one activity that is even half as fulfilling or satisfying, he's also busy as an academic trying to figure out why music is important to people. Hell be attending NYU in fall of 2011 working toward an MA in Interdisciplinary Studies toward that very end.

James Davis/Trumpet:  James Davis is a trumpeter and composer in Chicago who originally hails from the former Republic of Texas. In Chicago he maintains a busy schedule teaching music and writing music for some of his groups and collaborations including Pianofail, the James Davis Quintet, and Zing!. His musical escapades have taken him into the auditoriums, cafetoriums, and gymnasiums of schools across the US and Canada, to a few world renowned Jazz Festivals, and even into the walls of the Palace of the King of Thailand. 

Toby Summerfiels/Electric Guitar & Many Many Buttons & Knobs: Improviser, Composer, Collaborator, Producer, Guitarist, Bassist.  Has played in Larval, Algernon, Crush Kill Destroy, hearing from the gap, the Blindspot Trio, Poignant Plecostomus and others.  Improvises with Jaimie Branch, Frank Rosaly, Tim Daisy, Dina Maccabee, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Aram Shelton, Jason Ajemian, Matt Bauder, David Daniell and others.  Composes for and conducts Never Enough Hope, a 20-piece-plus orchestra. Plays guitar becuase of "back to the future." Plays bass because he is very large and because he is a "team player."

Dan Thatcher/Electric Bass: Growing up in a musical family, Chicago-based bassist Daniel Thatcher discovered his love for performing at a young age through kitchen-ware jams, song, and garage bands. After his formal university training in double-bassery, he quickly established himself as a driving force in Chicago's diverse creative music scene. His love for strange and beautiful music lead to being an active contributor (both compositionally and in terms of low-end support) for such unsung local bands as Leaves, Marc Riordan Trio, and Two Aglets Jazzing.

Quin Thatcher/Drums & Cymbals: Well studied and well traveled, Chicago-via-New Orleans-via-Chicago drummer Quin Kirchner is everywhere.  He has become a ubiquitous drumming force throughout the city’s diverse music scene performing with such musicians as Jeb Bishop, Greg Ward and Dave Rempis as well as groups including NOMO, Leaf Bird, blink., Greg Ward’s Fitted Shards, In Tall Buildings, ZING! & Lucky 7s to name a few. Kirchner has toured extensively in the US and Canada as well as France, Germany, Greece, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the UK.  Kirchner was recently selected as a member of the New Generation, a cross-cultural exchange in Dortmund, Germany led by Georg Graewe and Tobias Delias as part of the Ruhr 2010 Cultural Capital of Europe.