Atropa by Bill Harris

Bill Harris is a community builder first and foremost. As one of the founders of the Amalgam collective, he has helped to keep Chicago’s storied improvised music scene together through the dark ages of the 2020s. Additionally, his studio space Marmalade has hosted performances from some of the most boundary-pushing voices of contemporary experimental music - artists such as Charmaine Lee, Brandon Lopez, Sandy Ewen and more - during a time in which such spaces are becoming fewer and further between. Even when performing solo, Harris maintains that same community-driven ethos. Though he brings an intense layer of attention to detail, (as he always does), his solo performance is marked less by the kind of isolation and insularity that many would associate with improvised solo music and more by an open-ended adventurous sensibility. In this context, the solo performance becomes more of a challenge; how can one extend their technique creatively enough to make up for the empty space?

On his latest solo release, Atropa, Harris takes this challenge to its furthermost limits, creating a solo improvised record that does not sound solo at all. This is in large part because of the unique process Harris deployed in putting the record together. The album consists of free-form piano pieces with improvised multi-tracked drum parts layered over them. This is less Harris performing as a duo with himself and more him drawing up new contours to improvise within on the piano. It represents the seemingly contradictory meeting of improvisation and studio wizardry, but at the same time, listening to the record without context one would likely not recognize that these two parts were recorded separately.

Atropa marks a diversion from the heavy, feedback-laden sound of his previous solo work, as documented on his previous tape Macrodose. Rather than going for standard free jazz piano aggression, Harris’ piano playing is more delicate in its angularity, at times calling to mind Paul Bley. Though piano is not Harris’ first instrument, he brings a very unique approach, brought out by unconventional tunings reminiscent of Kyle Gann. The end result is perplexing, mysterious, even pretty at times, but always rewarding.

- Levi Dayan, 2025