By David R. Parvo
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey
The Mercury in Austin, Texas
09/01/00
As the crowd slowly began to trickle into the roomy, air-conditioned confines of The Mercury last night, the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, who opened for Austin's Tunji, took to the stage. The band, which hails from Tulsa Oklahoma, is
comprised of Brian Haas on Fender Rhodes piano, Matthew Edwards on drums, and Reed Mathis on bass. When they picked up their instruments, they immediately launched into an unremitting swirling jazz groove that lasted throughout their set.
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey is unencumbered by preset chord progressions, fixed timekeeping or a Western perception of pitch, and they took the crowd along on a ride they will not soon forget. About one third of the way through their
set, the band began to really cut loose and rip, which rocked the enthusiastic audience back on its heels, leaving most slack-jawed as they watched in awe. Edwards laid down a steady beat that was always on time, and when he was given the spotlight, he seized it, playing with unabashed intensity. Reed has a very compelling style, to say the least, and obfuscates the line dividing the bass and lead guitars. He plays the bass with a slaphappy rapid-fire precision reminiscent of everyone from Metallica's old bass player, Cliff Burton, to Coltrane's long time collaborator, Jimmy Garrison, and Jimi Hendrix. He's that good. In Haas' strong and original keyboard work, fleeting strains of Thelonious Monk and the spaced out funk of Sun Ra could be heard. And everytime I wondered if he was going to keel over from playing so damn fast, he'd pick it up a couple of notches and really kick out the jams.
Throughout the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey's set, I kept on asking myself, who do these guys sound like? Matthew Shipp with a sharp bite? Universal Congress of? With their tight and intense, but patently unrefined, jams, they bury Medeski, Martin and Wood, in this scribe's opinion. But after the show, it finally dawned on me: They sound just like . . . the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. If anything, they have a unique blend of styles reminiscent of vintage Ornette Coleman and Frank Zappa/Ian Underwood collaborations (circa Hot Rats), mainly due to their searing hybrid of depth, imagery, dissonance and free improvisational forms, all of which is strongly bolstered by conceptual continuity.
This is a tight group of talented musicians, and their music is familiar yet new. And what makes them unique in this day and age is their need for propulsive rhythm and harmonic (harmolodic?) interest that adheres to some elements of rhythm and blues.
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey is a compelling listening experience indeed, and they provide an antidote for the appalling lack of creativity in this country's current jazz scene. My only problem with the show was that they didn't play long enough. They've promised to return to Austin in a couple of months, and if you missed them Friday night, you won't want to repeat the same mistake again.
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