Smartly dressed quartet jazzes up night spot
Published in Berkshire Eagle, 7/1/10
Words and photos by Jeremy D. Goodwin
NORTH ADAMS—The suits made a statement.
When last I saw Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, it was in 2003 during its weekly residency at rock club Harpers Ferry in Allston, Mass., with a different guest expanding the trio into a quartet each week. The instrumental, avant-jazz-jam outfit took every musical detour it could find, throwing an atonal wrench into the evening of any unsuspecting fan attracted by the presence of high-profile guests like ex-Zero guitarist Steve Kimock.
In those days the band was inspired by a cockeyed desire to leap into musical chaos, but limited by the patience-trying experiments of founding bassist Reed Mathis, who wandered through indulgent, upper-register voyages on an electric Fender bass he had pinched in the family jewels with a pitch-shifting device. Since then, there have been some key personnel shifts, including the departure of Mathis in 2008 and the arrival of new drummer Joshua Raymer and lap steel guitarist Chris Combs that same year, plus bassist Jeff Harshbarger in 2010.
When the newly minted quartet strode to the stage at Mass MoCA’s Club B-10 over the weekend, it did so smartly dressed in suits—pianist and bandleader Brian Hass in seersucker, the others dressed in business attire that made them look like, well, jazzmen. (Though the fresh-faced Raymer looked a bit like he was headed for a Bar Mitzvah.) Even the band’s apparent assistant, who took photos during the show, wore similar duds.
Perhaps it was the absence of Hass’s usual Fender Rhodes (he played an upright piano and some melodica) more than the dress code that tipped the scales, but the band on this night sounded much more like an innovative jazz unit than an over-hyphenated fusion experiment.
The tone for the consistently exciting, nearly two-hour show was set with opening number “Four in One,” a Thelonious Monk composition well suited to the tipsy, zig-zag approach of JFJO. On this and several other songs, Hass lovingly caressed the melody on piano before allowing the band to leap into a tempo shift or wild (and temporary) increase in volume and intensity. Original tune “Goodnight Alley” seemed classically inspired, yet Combs’ skygazing leads on lap steel added a psychedelic, Pink Floydian texture. A revelatory reading of The Beatles’ “Julia” included the understated warmth of the original while leaving room for an extended bass solo, as Raymer accompanied while switching between brushes and mallets.
NORTH ADAMS—The suits made a statement.
When last I saw Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, it was in 2003 during its weekly residency at rock club Harpers Ferry in Allston, Mass., with a different guest expanding the trio into a quartet each week. The instrumental, avant-jazz-jam outfit took every musical detour it could find, throwing an atonal wrench into the evening of any unsuspecting fan attracted by the presence of high-profile guests like ex-Zero guitarist Steve Kimock.
In those days the band was inspired by a cockeyed desire to leap into musical chaos, but limited by the patience-trying experiments of founding bassist Reed Mathis, who wandered through indulgent, upper-register voyages on an electric Fender bass he had pinched in the family jewels with a pitch-shifting device. Since then, there have been some key personnel shifts, including the departure of Mathis in 2008 and the arrival of new drummer Joshua Raymer and lap steel guitarist Chris Combs that same year, plus bassist Jeff Harshbarger in 2010.
When the newly minted quartet strode to the stage at Mass MoCA’s Club B-10 over the weekend, it did so smartly dressed in suits—pianist and bandleader Brian Hass in seersucker, the others dressed in business attire that made them look like, well, jazzmen. (Though the fresh-faced Raymer looked a bit like he was headed for a Bar Mitzvah.) Even the band’s apparent assistant, who took photos during the show, wore similar duds.
Perhaps it was the absence of Hass’s usual Fender Rhodes (he played an upright piano and some melodica) more than the dress code that tipped the scales, but the band on this night sounded much more like an innovative jazz unit than an over-hyphenated fusion experiment.
The tone for the consistently exciting, nearly two-hour show was set with opening number “Four in One,” a Thelonious Monk composition well suited to the tipsy, zig-zag approach of JFJO. On this and several other songs, Hass lovingly caressed the melody on piano before allowing the band to leap into a tempo shift or wild (and temporary) increase in volume and intensity. Original tune “Goodnight Alley” seemed classically inspired, yet Combs’ skygazing leads on lap steel added a psychedelic, Pink Floydian texture. A revelatory reading of The Beatles’ “Julia” included the understated warmth of the original while leaving room for an extended bass solo, as Raymer accompanied while switching between brushes and mallets.
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Raymer was a consistent delight, offering a hybrid of rock and jazz drumming styles that shone on Combs original “The Sensation of Seeing Light” and “Imam,” on which he locked into some ferocious interplay with Haas on piano, as the latter crouched over his keys with Buddy Holly glasses sitting low on the nose, occasionally jerking his head back and sending with it a barely regulated mound of curls. Raymer bears the physical mannerisms and the off-kilter timekeeping of a great jazz drummer, but barely hits his cymbals and keeps things essentially grounded—something that fits with the verse/chorus/verse structure that seems to underlie the group’s original material.
“Trampoline Phoenix,” one of several excellent excerpts from new album Stay Gold, featured a darting melody and contained explosions of piano that signaled the jagged shift to a rough-edged chorus. Things came deliciously unhinged for “Old Love, New Love,” the most exploratory sequence of the evening. The jam felt wide open as Combs’ bent his guitar lines into pretzel knots and Raymer produced a delightful clamor, while Haas and Harshbarger (an immovable rock all night) alternately burbled to the surface.
It was the most free moment of the show, but the whole affair—stocked with unconventional compositions that offered the opportunity for controlled chaos—felt a bit on the edge, if never entirely impolite. With the group’s jazz club attire, and a setlist that methodically moved between studio releases as Haas calmly narrated (missing no chance to name-check the group’s just-released album), the in-your-face experimentalism of days past was much subdued. The newfound balance produced consistent excellence.
“Trampoline Phoenix,” one of several excellent excerpts from new album Stay Gold, featured a darting melody and contained explosions of piano that signaled the jagged shift to a rough-edged chorus. Things came deliciously unhinged for “Old Love, New Love,” the most exploratory sequence of the evening. The jam felt wide open as Combs’ bent his guitar lines into pretzel knots and Raymer produced a delightful clamor, while Haas and Harshbarger (an immovable rock all night) alternately burbled to the surface.
It was the most free moment of the show, but the whole affair—stocked with unconventional compositions that offered the opportunity for controlled chaos—felt a bit on the edge, if never entirely impolite. With the group’s jazz club attire, and a setlist that methodically moved between studio releases as Haas calmly narrated (missing no chance to name-check the group’s just-released album), the in-your-face experimentalism of days past was much subdued. The newfound balance produced consistent excellence.
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"Old Love, New Love"
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