Jazz!
Saxophones! Drums! Sometimes, no drums! Sometimes, Guitars! Organs! Banjos!
Jazz!
There's this place in New York City that I practically used to live at called the Knitting Factory. It had three (now four) performance spaces packed into this boho space offa Broadway. It books only good music. Funny thing is, thousands of people define what good music is merely by who is playing at the Knitting Factory. So, they can never lose: bad music never happens at the Knitting Factory, since they more or less determine what is good. They book a lot of Jazz!
One night I was there watching some group play, it was probably one of their "Knitting Bands" (oh, another thing they can do, this place, is make up groups, it's astounding) like Ribot-Zorn-Tyler-Threadgill-Eye or something and some low-toned announcer comes over the P.A. after Zorn cleaned the spit off the people in the front row and intones: "Sex Mob, free, downstairs, Late Night Hang." Me and accompanies dearly wanted to quit NYC to get to the Suburban Diner of Paramus, NJ in hopes of catching Trixter, so we didn't stay for this Sex Mob, but we heard them as we left, Trumpets and Guitars and Drums wafting up the stairs, Jazz!
A coupla years later I'm in my room so far away from Broadway and listening to their record-technology! Here's Sex Mob: a New York downtown supergroup. Bernstein: trumpet, Krauss: sax, Scherr: bass, and Wollesen: drums. Lending even more star power to the process comes John Medeski (from hipper-than-you MMW&L) on organ on many tracks. The music: very live-sounding one-take combo pieces. Covers of Prince's "Sign O' The Times" and McCartney's "Live and Let Die." Things get jokey sometimes, but the musicians know how to stay hip. You get this idea listening to this record that everyone's got a pocket watch and just got finished eating apple / felafel / beansprout pita sandwiches. The recording is very up-front and rough but this is their element: Sex Mob started as a live act, playing very very often in the Knitting Factory's Tap Bar and went on to become their new space's "band-in-residence"-which makes them tight and loose, a Chinese fingertrap ordeal. Bernstein is in fine form, as usual, as bandleader, although I secretly feel his style is more attuned to the highly organized and written other KF-created group, Spanish Fly. Does this ultra-talented supergroup paradigm work for improv-based jazz? I've seen shows where Famous Person #1 tries valiantly to outdo Famous Person #2 in some twisted Creativity Battle, but this doesn't happen here, thankfully. Even the instantly recognizable and talented Medeski is relegated to "organ guy," which fits much better here.
Caveats? 1. The cover artwork is of a Devil / Steven Bernstein something, and can easily scare small children. 2. The packaging and look imply that they might be trying to con kids into thinking it's a swing record (I guess it could be, but don't try to twirl your S.O. to this one) 3. This record could very well be so trendy, so tied in with now, that it will physically disintegrate in four months. Keep your eyes open.