{"id":10755,"date":"2025-06-19T22:48:27","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T03:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=10755"},"modified":"2025-06-20T18:49:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T23:49:26","slug":"for-those-who-need-to-hear-it-a-conversation-with-chris-weller-on-hanging-hearts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/for-those-who-need-to-hear-it-a-conversation-with-chris-weller-on-hanging-hearts\/","title":{"rendered":"For Those Who Need to Hear It: A Conversation with Chris Weller on Hanging Hearts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The great Cameroonian musician Manu Dibango once sagely noted that \u201cAlthough 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.\u201d 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\u2019s Your Head At<\/em> (Ropeadope, 2025) – on one end and an agent and manager on the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s Your Head At<\/em> features shifting textures that are unpredictable yet feel so natural. The band places its head in some fascinating spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, the opener, \u201cRise,\u201d 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\u2019s horn bobs and weaves, becoming increasingly unmoored to traditional concepts of melody. The track stands in stark contrast to \u201cHorizon\u201d where tranquil otherworldly textures gently lift the listener to the sky before leaving the atmosphere and frantically soaring through the cosmos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But like with any artist, the confluences of interests on Where\u2019s Your Head At<\/em> 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 (\u201cSh\u00e9gera\u201d) to curiosity about extraterrestrial life (\u201cIt\u2019s Aliens\u201d). From political action(\u201cFight Song\u201d) to memories of loved ones lost (\u201cFlock Up \u2018N Fly\u201d). And, inevitably, those influences will also include Weller\u2019s experiences in his day job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a>, Josh Johnson<\/a>, Marc Ribot<\/a>, Mary Halvorson<\/a>, Charlie Hunter, and the Bad Plus.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We sat down with Weller ahead of Hanging Hearts\u2019 performances at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival (June 21, 2025) and Festival International De Jazz De Montreal (June 29, 2025) to discuss how Where\u2019s Your Head At came together and how wearing both of his hats may have shaped the record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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