Chicago-based musician and composer Charles Rumback has announced his eighth album as a bandleader. Titled Cartoons, the record arrives October 30 via Cloud Ear Records. It’s the former Kansan’s fourth LP to feature Jim Baker and John Tate with that longstanding trio now performing as a quartet as Jeff Parker joins them.
Rumback’s friend and collaborator Ken Christianson recorded Cartoons at Pro Musica in Chicago. “Ken and I have been collaborating on a number of projects as well,” Rumback says, “including the Charlie Haden solo bass record that came out on Delmark late last year for Record Store Day, Live at the Jazz Record Mart. Ken has been very kind to me and we have a lot of music in the works.”
Cartoons is the result of another collaboration as well, the recent but vital working relationship Rumback has formed with Wichita-based guitarist David Lord who has, to date, released his own Way Over The Rainbow in late 2025 (also featuring Rumback and Parker) and, earlier in 2026, The River, from Craig Owens and The Bodo Ensemble. (Lord has another LP under his own name slated for issue later this year.)
“Working with David on this project has been incredibly inspiring and I’m really looking forward to seeing where this chapter will go,” enthuses Rumback.
Strange Currency has premiered the track “Two Kinds of Camouflage,” a group composition which highlights the interplay between the four master musicians and their uncanny ability to create haunting and deeply imaginative compositions that surprise, sometimes startle, and always delight. You can hear the song several times through the rest of September on Strange Currency from 8 to 10 p.m. and Saturday from 7 to 9 p.m. on 89.1 KMUW or online at KMUW.org.
Cartoons can be ordered now via Charles Rumback’s Bandcamp page, charlesrumback.bandcamp.com.
