Bill McKemy Quartet

Fans will recognize Bill McKemy as the Malachy Papers’ former bassist, but the tunes emanating from his latest effort, Duende, might strike even followers of that band as Dispatches from Café Unexpected. McKemy explores an acoustic but equally adventurous realm of jazz, sounding like a member of a coffee-house ensemble that couldn’t care less about how gently a patron’s coffee is going down. The CD’s songs were done in one take, and players such as Jeffery Ruckma on accordion and Brian Baggett on guitar formed spontaneous responses to McKemy’s tango and Caribbean-laden compositions. For listeners willing to drift down the many roads McKemy explores, this will be quite a show.