Jim Baker
Jim Baker is a Chicago pianist and synthesist who has been part of the city's improvised music scene since the 1980s. He plays piano and the ARP 2600 synthesizer, and he leads the collective free improvisation quartet Extraordinary Popular Delusions, known for its weekly Monday night sets in Chicago. Jim Baker studied piano with Thomas Scott and composition with Morgan Powell and Herbert Brün at the University of Illinois at Urbana.
The Walls Of The Temple Are Made Of Sound
On March 19th, 1999, legendary soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy played with his working trio at The Velvet Lounge at 2128 ½ S. Indiana Avenue in Chicago. Owned and operated by tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson, The Velvet Lounge was the central hub for adventurous jazz music in Chicago from 1993 until Fred passed in 2010. Music critic and journalist Peter Margasak previewed the concert in the alternative weekly Chicago Reader, and someone blew up a xeroxed copy of it that Lacy inscribed across the …
Ism
*2025 stock* Ism highlights the distinct qualities of each member. Fred's methodical approach to melody, Ed Wilkerson’s relentless dynamism, Jim’s uncanny ability to subvert expectations, and Avreeayl's inescapable rhythm, which weaves through the music—shaping everything from textured explorations to intense grooves to wild improvisations.
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Routines
*Edition of 300 glass-mastered CDs in wallet with spine.* "Three leaders in the Chicago free improv scene -Keefe Jackson on tenor & sopranino saxophones, Jim Baker on piano & synthesizer and Julian Kirshner on drums - in a collective album of concentrative conversation, a group of equals that function together through close listening and interactive support in expressive playing that leaves ego out of the equation." - squidco.comKettle Hole Records is a Chicago-based independent record label, wh…
Scylla
This fourth record by the long-standing improvising ensemble Rempis/Abrams/Ra, and the third featuring now-regular band member Jim Baker, was recorded in a watershed moment for these musicians during a pandemic that had gutted lives across the planet. After 15 months of being closed to the public, the band's home base Elastic Arts had re-opened for live events. And Rempis decided to relaunch his weekly Thursday-night concert series, a hub of the Chicago scene since 2002, with a performance by th…
So Glossy and So Thin
* Edition of 100 * Recorded live at the Hungry Brain, Chicago on June 10, 2018 (track 1) and September 29, 2019 (track 2). Performed by Keefe Jackson - tenor/sopranino saxophone, Jim Baker - piano/synthesizer, Julian Kirshner - drums. Engineer: Bill Harris.
June Holiday
**CD version** "A sublime trio set from drummer Charles Rumback – a record that has us really appreciating the special touch the leader can bring to a date, as this album may also be one of the best that we've heard from pianist Jim Baker in years! Baker has this great way of sounding soulful and lyrical, yet also moving towards the freer side of his spectrum too – working with the subtle drums of Rumback and the careful bass of John Tate, all with energy that almost takes us back to the groundb…
Cadillac Turns
**300 copies** Sydney, Australia, 2010: “Are you Charles Rumback?” A chance encounter, if such a thing exists, found the drummer / composer, jet-lagged on a barstool, post-soundcheck, on a Friday in a tiny Sydney club. Calling out of context, like an incredulous kid recognizing their grade school teacher in line at the grocery store, was renowned New Orleans bassist James Singleton, having recognized Rumback from a gig just 5 days prior at the Skylark way back in Chicago. Little did Singleton kn…