For New Zealand

The second release from The Chicago Plan brings together the long‑standing frontline partnership of Steve Swell and Gebhard Ullmann with Chicago’s own Michael Zerang and Fred Lonberg‑Holm, a quartet whose shared history and instinctive responsiveness give the music its unmistakable edge. Recorded in Augsburg in December 2019, the album presents six compositions split evenly between Swell and Ullmann, each exploring the full expressive range of this unusual lineup — from dark, droning atmospheres and fractured chamber textures to driving, earthy free jazz.

Lonberg‑Holm’s cello and electronics expand the ensemble’s palette, shifting effortlessly between percussive vamps, skeletal scrapes, and shimmering electronic color, while Zerang’s drumming anchors and provokes in equal measure. Swell and Ullmann move between anthemic themes, volatile exchanges, and finely shaded timbral work, charting a course that embraces both contemporary new‑music sensibilities and the raw immediacy of improvised jazz.

For New Zealand captures The Chicago Plan as a true collective: four master improvisers navigating composed frameworks with agility, intensity, and a shared sense of purpose — an ensemble sound that continually pushes beyond the written page.