For Those Who Need to Hear It: A Conversation with Chris Weller on Hanging Hearts

The great Cameroonian musician Manu Dibango once sagely noted that “Although music is business, [] you don’t start thinking about money from the initial stages when you are in music. First[,] propose to the people what they want[,] and if they like it, then the money comes later.” Far too often, the music business is driven by demographics, market share, and sales numbers. Part of this reliance is, for better or worse, necessary. Artists need economic support to continue living and creating the art they wish to share with the world. But for most, particularly in an area as esoteric as improvised music, it is the love of the craft that comes first. This is particularly the case for Chris Weller. Weller uniquely sits on both sides of the business table, as an artist – a saxophonist whose trio Hanging Hearts recently released its third record, Where’s Your Head At (Ropeadope, 2025) – on one end and an agent and manager on the other.

Hanging Hearts is a bassless trio where Weller, keyboardist Cole DeGenova, and percussionist Quin Kirchner explore a wide range of sounds. The Chicago-based band particularly shines in the space where the roads of avant-garde free improvisation, rock attitude, and the boundlessness of electronic experimentation intersect. Emerging from this crossroads, the entirety of Where’s Your Head At features shifting textures that are unpredictable yet feel so natural. The band places its head in some fascinating spaces.

For instance, the opener, “Rise,” makes use of off-kilter rhythms and a deceptively repetitive keyboard motif to add both a punkish edge – you can even hear one of the artists shouting at one point – and a hypnotic groove. Through it, the leader’s horn bobs and weaves, becoming increasingly unmoored to traditional concepts of melody. The track stands in stark contrast to “Horizon” where tranquil otherworldly textures gently lift the listener to the sky before leaving the atmosphere and frantically soaring through the cosmos. 

But like with any artist, the confluences of interests on Where’s Your Head At are not a Madlib-like exercise in the mixing of a random hodgepodge of thoughts. Instead, the meeting of diverse inspirations is made in furtherance of thoughts and experiences outside music, from images of rural Hungary (“Shégera”) to curiosity about extraterrestrial life (“It’s Aliens”). From political action(“Fight Song”) to memories of loved ones lost (“Flock Up ‘N Fly”). And, inevitably, those influences will also include Weller’s experiences in his day job.

As hinted above, when he is away from the bandstand and recording studio, is a manager and agent. All of such work he does for Big Fish Booking Company, an enterprise started by him and his wife – a fellow musician – Tina Priceman. Started a little over a decade ago, Big Fish has grown into a premiere firm of its kind, representing an impressive list of clients that includes NEA Jazz Master Gary Bartz, Jeff Parker, Josh Johnson, Marc Ribot, Mary Halvorson, Charlie Hunter, and the Bad Plus.  

We sat down with Weller ahead of Hanging Hearts’ performances at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival (June 21, 2025) and Festival International De Jazz De Montreal (June 29, 2025) to discuss how Where’s Your Head At came together and how wearing both of his hats may have shaped the record.

PostGenre: Going back, how did the band come to be named Hanging Hearts?

Chris Weller: My dad used to take a lot of black-and-white photography when I was a kid. The name Hanging Hearts actually came from a photo he took. The photo was always in our house growing up, and he titled it “Hanging Hearts.” The picture is of flowers – buds, really – and always looked very cool to me. 

PG: The group will be performing at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and the Festival International De Jazz De Montreal. Do you have a sense of how the group differs live compared to on the record?

CW: I guess it depends a little bit on the space. We are a pretty dynamic ensemble in terms of volume. We can transition from being extremely quiet to extremely loud and often do both extremes within our set. I suppose we’re louder as a whole because Cole is playing synth bass and keys, and usually has his own amps. But I would say that Where’s Your Head At is not hugely produced anyway. It’s very close to a live album in terms of sound. So, it doesn’t differ too much from our live show.

PG: Part of the issue of volume is also tied to the band’s small size. You have done solo performances, duos, and trios throughout your own recordings. Is there something about smaller formats that grabs you, or is the smaller size of your projects simply a logistical consideration?

CW: I  greatly enjoy smaller group settings for the sake of ease. That’s always been where my head has gone. The irony, I suppose, is that for a long time, I’ve heard in my head a large ensemble format with half-composed and half-improvised pieces. I’d like to explore that space at some point. It’s just a matter of finding the time to do it all. But, until then, I am very happy working with smaller groups. 

PG: One of those smaller groups has been a duo with Dave King. How did that come together? 

CW: Sure. Dave and I have a long history together at this point. He was one of the first artists to come to Big Fish. And he produced our last Hanging Hearts album [Into a Myth (Shifting Paradigm, 2017)]. We started working with him at Big Fish outside of the Bad Plus. We’d book tours and provide other help with tour management. But our relationship started outside of the industry and agency context. It was based on music. Dave had heard me play before and eventually, we talked about doing some stuff together here and there. We booked some gigs and we went from there. We have plenty of repertoire between the two of us, and it’s great to improvise with Dave. I hope to do more with him. 

PG: You mentioned the Hanging Hearts albums before Where’s Your Head At. The group’s prior recordings had Devin Drobka on drums. Where’s Your Head At instead has Quin Kirchner on drums. How do you feel the change in drummer most changed the trajectory of the group?

CW: Quin is his own artist and drummer and has his own voice. But I’m not sure I’m even thinking about trajectory at all. Sonically, Quin has a different feel on the drums in terms of groove and time. That brings a certain different element to the table. He is well-versed in so many different kinds of music, which is nice to have. In many ways, he’s an anchor rhythmically while remaining open enough that he can be responsive so we can go anywhere as an ensemble. 

PG: Where’s Your Head At certainly covers a lot of sonic ground. Electronic, avant-garde, pop, R&B, psychedelia, and a few other stylistic influences emerge periodically throughout the recording. Did you consciously keep stylistic norms in mind when composing pieces for the record?

CW: No. A lot of the diversity comes from the different times in which the music was written. I wrote the music for Where’s Your Head At during a period that spans a large amount of time in my life. Certain things were written in the past couple of years and others I wrote several years ago. Some were written before the [COVID-19] pandemic, and others were written during it. My wife, Tina [Priceman], and I have a daughter who was born in 2020, and with how quickly she has grown, the years have blurred together a bit. But throughout that time, my compositional process varied. Sometimes, I would sing melodies. For others, I would just improvise on my saxophone. Often, I wrote them while sitting at the piano. But my process varies. There is also the fact I’m not the only person writing music for the record. I know, for example, that Cole wrote “In the Garden.” It came from a melody he randomly started to hum while he was walking around in his mom’s garden. So, there is great variability in how the pieces come together. 

PG: You are also drawing inspiration from a pretty wide range of issues outside of music with the compositions: fatherhood, friendship, social justice, and even aliens.

CW: Yes. “Flock Up ‘N Fly,” for one, is about loved ones who have passed away. It’s particularly dedicated to both Jaimie Branch and my late brother-in-law. We have a lot of inspirations, I suppose. But part of that breadth might also be because our repertoire was developed over a longer period. 

PG: Honing in on sound instead of broader ideas, however, there are the record’s avant-garde elements. As the trio is from Chicago, is the city’s strong creative music scene – with organizations like the [Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians] – an influence at all as to those elements?

CW: I would say we are certainly inspired by all of that because we all came up in the Chicago scene. There’s a certain pedagogy in Chicago with its history and all the great musicians in town. The influence of people like Fred Anderson who would take artists under their wing, nurture them, and provide spaces for creativity and learning. Fred, in particular, was so crucial to developing the scene in Chicago and the musical upbringings of myself and so many other folks. Until the day he passed, he was out playing with folks thirty or even fifty years younger than him and remained impressive until the end. But the whole scene in Chicago was very influential for me. I know Cole came up similarly as well. Quin is a little older than us, but there’s no doubt that we’re all inspired by the music of Chicago, both from our peers and from the elders. It’s a rich history, as you know. 

PG: And for some of the more electronic elements, on some of the tracks, you use pedals on your saxophone. What first got you into using pedals?

CW: I can’t entirely remember. Tina is a great violinist and has dabbled with pedals for a long time. I may have tried out some of her pedals and thought it was cool. Or maybe I started with just a few of my own pedals at first. But I think it all originally stemmed from my wanting to experiment more and enjoy different sonic possibilities. 

PG: You are certainly exposed to a lot of different musical ideas in your role as a booking agent and manager at Big Fish Booking Company. Do you feel your work in that role shapes how you approach your own music? 

CW: I think everything informs my artistic approach. I’m very lucky to work as an agent and a manager and get to be an advocate for very close friends that I grew up playing music with and my musical heroes, too. I think there’s a gravity to things over time.  People with similar goals or aesthetics are put together. And so things started much smaller, obviously, but now we’ve established an ethos that has its own gravity. We hear a lot of great music all the time. So, in terms of inspiration and hearing new ideas, it’s hugely inspiring to be in that role. 

PG: Do you feel you are approaching music in similar ways in that role as you do as an artist, or do you approach the two roles with a completely different mindset? 

CW: I think my perspective towards music has changed quite a bit because I better understand the industry side of things and the artist experience, for better or worse. I’m also not making a living as a performing musician. And because of that, my relationship with art has changed. Before, I used to teach a lot of lessons. I had a big studio and played more. Now, I try every chance I get to make music, and I appreciate it so much. Even if it’s for only thirty seconds here and there during the day. But when it comes to picking up an instrument, writing music, or playing with other people, I think my relationship is one of pure joy.  I would say my relationship with music is healthier now than it used to be because I don’t have expectations of it. It’s just love at this point. 

‘Where’s Your Head At’ is out now on Ropeadope Records. It can be purchased on Bandcamp. You can learn more about Hanging Hearts, Chris Weller, and Big Fish Booking Company on their respective websites.

Photo Credit: Cory Dewald