Greg Ward – alot sax
Tim Haldeman – Tenor Sax
Jason Roebke – bass
Mike Reed – drums

Dieses Quartett hat sich zur Aufgabe gemacht die Musik, die in Chicago 1954 bis 1960 gemacht wurde neu zu „erfinden. Der Chicagoer Schlagzeuger Michael Reed hat dieses Quartett im letzten Jahr gegründet um die reiche aber zum Teil vergessene Musik des Post Bop zwischen 1954 bis 1960 wieder zum Klingen zu bringen.

„Drummer Mike Reed formed this quartet last year to explore the rich but neglected trove of local postbop made between 1954 and 1960. When New York emerged as jazz’s center in the late 40s it overshadowed most smaller scenes, but the tunes Reed tackles on the new Proliferation (482 Music) – associated with Sun Ra, John Jenkins, and Wilbur Campbell, among others – are as indelible as anything that was being cut at Rudy Van Gelder’s place. Reed, reedists Greg Ward and Tim Haldeman, and bassist Jason Roebke don’t try to make People, Places & Things a repertory band: though the buoyant rhythms and rippling melodies in these deeply soulful songs remain intact, that’s not because they’re played straight. The group pushes against the swing feel, and Ward and Haldeman, who steer clear of the traditional string-of-solos approach in favor of electric multilinear improvisations, abstract bits of the tunes – stretching and transforming them, stripping them down and reconstituting them – without sapping their vibrance. Proliferation proves not only how sturdy these songs are, but also how nimble, progressive, and hard-swinging Reed’s quartet is. I don’t know if I’ve enjoyed a jazz album more this year.“
Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader

More information here:
http://www.482music.com/albums/482-1060.html

You can listen to the music here:
http://mikereedmusic.com/proliferation.cfm

Nice things people are saying:

#5 record of the Year
-Chicago Tribune

Top 50 Records of the Year
-The Village Voice

Mike Reed named Chicagoan of The Year in Jazz for 2008
-Chicago Tribune

“Emerging artists to watch”
-Downbeat, Bill Meyer

“Reed’s new recordings say something important about the legacy of Chicago Jazz”
-JazzTimes, David Adler

“If the rest of Chicago Jazz Festival Week proves as dynamically creative as Monday night’s opener in Millennium Park, there will be remarkable listening ahead. Conceived by one of Chicago’s most promising young musicians, the evening merged two generations of instrumentalists to often stunning effect. At the core of the music-making was Chicago drummer Mike Reed’s innovative People, Places and Things band. Each of its players thrives at the razor’s edge of the Chicago jazz avant-garde, and each commands a following of his own.”
-Chicago Tribune, Howard Reich

“One of my favorite records released this year, Proliferation (482 Music), by a quartet called People, Places & Things led by Chicago drummer Mike Reed.
-Point of Departure, Art Lange

“These albums signify that Reed, a ubiquitous presence on the Chicago jazz scene, is destined for greater acclaim.”
-All About Jazz, Troy Collins

“Over the past year the quartet People, Places & Things, led by drummer Mike Reed, has grown into the most electrifying jazz band in town.”
-The Chicago Reader, Peter Margasak

„People, Places & Things stems from Reed’s fascination with ’50s Chicago jazz. PPT both infuses with new meaning and pays homage to tunes from a cataclysmic time in the city’s jazz history, when seeds of the avant-garde collective Umbrella were first planted. Proliferation wildly succeeds in giving new life to an era long taken for granted.“
-Time Out Chicago, Matt Lurie

“…a few more recordings and Mike Reed will be in the first rank of living American bandleaders.“
-Bill Shoemaker