"Race Riot Suite," the remarkable new album by Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, is one of the most compelling new jazz-based albums of 2011. Unfortunately, the band elected to give the ambitious project short shrift Friday at Crosstown Station.
Although it's an entirely instrumental composition, Race Riot Suite eloquently evokes a nightmarish series of events in 1921.
"It's about the largest race riot in history that happened in our hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma," pianist and bandleader Brian Haas explained.
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey spent many years since its inception in 1994 courting the jam-band audience, but its recent rapid maturation has taken the collective to new artistic heights. The sole connection to its jam-band roots Friday was an incongruous hula hoop that was awkwardly shared by several members of the audience of about 250. The band's transformation is partly attributable to the addition of Kansas City-based bassist Jeff Harshbarger in 2010. He brings exceptional musicality and visual interest to the band. As he hunched over his upright bass Friday, Harshbarger resembled a fearsome spider ensnaring its prey.
The band's decision not to perform "Race Riot Suite" in its entirety was disappointing. A cohesive song cycle, the ambitious composition by lap steel player Chris Combs merits a complete recital. Perhaps the members of the band-- a quartet supplemented by two horns -- realized that many in the audience were on hand to dance to headlining act Hearts of Darkness.
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey dedicated much of its 80-minute set on comparatively lighter material with sinuous grooves, but the pieces from "Race Riot" stood out. The discordant opening strains of "The Burning" evoked screams of anguish followed by a horrifying descent into anarchy. "Lost In the Battle For Greenwood" served as an articulate cutting contest. Haas debated Combs while saxophonist Kasra Ahmadi argued with trombonist Matt LeLand. "Black Wall Street" filters ragtime through the disparate sensibilities of the Western swing of Bob Wills and contemporary avant-garde jazz. The transfixing combination of styles incited fist-pumping from a few fans near the stage.
"Race Riot Suite" is in the illustrious tradition of conceptual jazz suites like John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme," Charles Mingus' "Tijuana Moods" and Duke Ellington's "Black, Brown and Beige." While Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey has yet to achieve the consistent level of artistic brilliance of those jazz giants, the masterful "Race Riot Suite" and its strong performance Friday indicate that the band is beginning to merit such lofty comparisons.
"It's about the largest race riot in history that happened in our hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma," pianist and bandleader Brian Haas explained.
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey spent many years since its inception in 1994 courting the jam-band audience, but its recent rapid maturation has taken the collective to new artistic heights. The sole connection to its jam-band roots Friday was an incongruous hula hoop that was awkwardly shared by several members of the audience of about 250. The band's transformation is partly attributable to the addition of Kansas City-based bassist Jeff Harshbarger in 2010. He brings exceptional musicality and visual interest to the band. As he hunched over his upright bass Friday, Harshbarger resembled a fearsome spider ensnaring its prey.
The band's decision not to perform "Race Riot Suite" in its entirety was disappointing. A cohesive song cycle, the ambitious composition by lap steel player Chris Combs merits a complete recital. Perhaps the members of the band-- a quartet supplemented by two horns -- realized that many in the audience were on hand to dance to headlining act Hearts of Darkness.
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey dedicated much of its 80-minute set on comparatively lighter material with sinuous grooves, but the pieces from "Race Riot" stood out. The discordant opening strains of "The Burning" evoked screams of anguish followed by a horrifying descent into anarchy. "Lost In the Battle For Greenwood" served as an articulate cutting contest. Haas debated Combs while saxophonist Kasra Ahmadi argued with trombonist Matt LeLand. "Black Wall Street" filters ragtime through the disparate sensibilities of the Western swing of Bob Wills and contemporary avant-garde jazz. The transfixing combination of styles incited fist-pumping from a few fans near the stage.
"Race Riot Suite" is in the illustrious tradition of conceptual jazz suites like John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme," Charles Mingus' "Tijuana Moods" and Duke Ellington's "Black, Brown and Beige." While Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey has yet to achieve the consistent level of artistic brilliance of those jazz giants, the masterful "Race Riot Suite" and its strong performance Friday indicate that the band is beginning to merit such lofty comparisons.
|Bill Brownlee, Special to The Star
I'd also wanted to hear the Suite in its entirety, but I understand why they switched to lighter material. The night was a celebratory one, regardless how many of the songs they chose to play from it.
And, since I bought the CD, I can listen to it this evening minus the hula hooping faction.
Posted by: Natacha VonBraun | September 17, 2011 at 12:51 PM
As I'm in the midst of writing my thesis on better interfaces in EMRs, I was extremely curious about the program that the tech geeks built which enhanced medical student learning through signs/symptoms input.
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