Anteloper

Anteloper emerged as an experimental improv jazz duo with deep Chicago connections, formed in Brooklyn by trumpeter Jaimie Branch of Fly or Die and drummer Jason Nazary of Little Women, who integrate synths and effects throughout their work. The pair first crossed paths in 2002 at the New England Conservatory of Music, yet waited until 2017 to establish Anteloper in Brooklyn. Branch, born in Huntington on Long Island, began studying trumpet at age nine after her family relocated to the Chicago suburb of Wilmette. Nazary came into the world at northeastern Italy’s Aviano Air Base during his father’s military assignment there, though he was raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Following their 2005 departure from New England, Nazary settled in New York while Branch returned to Chicago, where she collaborated on multiple projects with Jason Ajemian, Keefe Jackson, and Tim Daisy. Around the same time Nazary helped launch Little Women, whose debut album Teeth appeared in 2007. Branch’s late-2000s endeavors included her own trio Princess and the group Block and Tackle before she moved to Baltimore to pursue a master’s degree in Jazz Performance. During that period she formed Bomb Shelter and started the Pionic label to issue their recordings. Branch relocated to Brooklyn in 2015, where she began curating jazz nights centered on esteemed Chicago musicians. This led directly to her Fly or Die project, featuring Ajemian alongside Tomeka Reid and Chad Taylor; the ensemble released an album on Chicago’s International Anthem in May 2017. That same imprint issued Anteloper’s debut Kudu in April 2018, preserving the duo’s ominous, glitch-laden improvisation recorded live at Brooklyn’s Carefree Studios. They reconvened a month later at the nearby Pioneer Works art center, generating material for the Tour Beats, Vol. 1 EP. The release first surfaced as a limited cassette sold during a late-2019 U.S. tour with Blacks’ Myths before International Anthem brought it out on vinyl the following year. Branch subsequently resumed work with Fly or Die, touring Europe in early 2020; their Zurich performance later surfaced as the Fly or Die Live album in May 2021. Two early-2022 Anteloper singles, radio edits of “One Living Genus” and “Earthlings” (the latter featuring Branch’s vocals), signaled the more accessible, less discordant, space-inspired direction the duo explored on their June 2022 album Pink Dolphins.