Black Duck

Black Duck brings together three pillars of the Chicago music community: guitarist/bassist Douglas McCombs, guitarist Bill MacKay and drummer Charles Rumback. The trio's self-titled debut album harnesses each player's capacity for poignant songwriting and improvisational exploration in pieces as far-reaching as they are arresting. 'Black Duck' is a gallery of sonic tapestries, unbound by any genre constraints while also utilizing genre touchstones. Challenging what a trio of two guitarists and a drummer can do, pieces move from breezy shuffles to stormy blues rumbles to gorgeous textural drones. Playing entirely improvised live sets for years helped develop the trio's acute senses for one another, knowing precisely how to listen to the others and bolster whatever direction they move in. Steeped in each other's voices, Black Duck entered the studio with engineer/producer John Hughes III with only three tunes written prior, one by each member, and the remaining pieces took shape much as their live performances, improvised on themes or simple motifs.