Bennu, the first duo recording by saxophonist Dave Rempis and drummer Avreeayl Ra, takes its name from an avian Egyptian divinity that created itself and also helped bring the world into being. It’s a fitting title for a completely improvised performance, especially one that ended the longest stretch without a gig that either had endured in their respective careers. In February 2021, when the two musicians finally convened at Constellation to record what became Bennu, the Delta wave of COVID had wreaked havoc on their performing schedules for months: neither had played a concert since November 2020, when Rempis had his last open-air date of the season in Margate Park and Ra livestreamed a show as part of the Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival. Rempis and Ra have collaborated in various contexts for around 15 years, and given the energy level the two men usually sustain in their ongoing project with bassist Joshua Abrams, it would’ve been reasonable to expect their Constellation set to be a free-jazz blowout. Instead, playing for an audience of video cameras and an engineer, they broke their silence almost gingerly. There’s an unusual amount of space in Ra’s playing, making Bennu an unparalleled opportunity to hear the tonal variety of his touch as he eases his way into a series of ceremonial grooves. Rempis responds with long, unfurling lines that peak with his usual rippling force, but he also dips into patient elaborations on the melodies he turns up as he winds through the drummer’s patterns. The saxophonist has never before engaged so deeply with the spiritual and sonic implications of the music that Ra has made in the company of Phil Cohran, Sun Ra, and Nicole Mitchell; here’s hoping he makes his way back to this zone again.
Dave Rempis and Avreeayl Ra’s Bennu is available via Bandcamp after 1/7.
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