Home » Jazz News » Radio

75

Rockwired.Com's All New Jazzed and Blue Features Ro Sham Beaux and Their Self-Titled Release!!!

Source:

Sign in to view read count
The weekly online radio series Jazzed and Blue: Profiles in Blues and Jazz is back and is now available for download at Rockwired.com and features exclusive interviews with the members of Ro Sham Beaux regarding their brand new self-titled release. In the opening segment, the members of Ro Sham Beaux discuss the inspiration behind the tracks of their new project and the creative process that brings about such compelling music. The second half of this edition of Jazzed and Blue will feature music from such jazz and blues artists as Kenny Love, Mozik, Marilyn Mcleod, Tom Wopat, Jason Hemmens and more. “After being gone for about three months, it is great to finally be back and doing this show again. “ says Jazzed and Blue host Brian Lush. “It's a real treat to end a long week with a show like this and to kick back and listen to some great music."

A fiercely grooving foursome hailing from New England Conservatory, RSB features Luke Marantz on piano and keyboard, bassist Oliver Watkinson, drummer Jacob Cole, and saxophonist Zac Shaiman. The collective quartet announces its arrival on March 13, 2012 with the release of a combustible self-titled album on Red Piano Records that blows apart binary musical categories.While fluent in the post-bop canon, the band is equally influenced by indie rock pacesetters like Deerhoof, Björk, and The Dirty Projectors. Artfully employing electronic effects and looping in real time, RSB has honed a compelling book of original tunes that embrace pop's concision, indie rock's textural resourcefulness and jazz's improvisational imperative. Rather than serving as launching pads for extended solos, RSB tunes are vehicles for jaw-dropping group interplay and quicksilver shifts in tempo, texture and momentum. Above all, RSB infuses their music with a sense of unabashed joy, as if exalting in each other's company."We thrive in the spaces between order and chaos," Marantz says. “We're playing acoustic instruments, but electrified, including saxophone with effects and pedals, which is a sound you don't hear very much. We improvise the forms, which means we've developed a whole language among ourselves out of necessity. Zac brings in new tunes every week and the old tunes keep expanding. We have a whole lexicon of places we can go."

The band's sound has evolved considerably since recording its debut album, but Ro Sham Beaux captures the quartet's singular sound. The album opens with “Bearblade," a funk-tinged anthem with a soaring saxophone line that gives way to a shimmering keyboard passage. The slow-burning “Tejas Drive" is built on Cole's pummeling trap work. While sounding nothing like The Bad Plus, the tune's surging and retreating tidal energy brings to mind a Dave King opus. While still moody and mysterious, RSB's interpretation of Björk's “Jóga," ratchets up the intensity several notches, maintaining the melody's smeary quality while suggesting darker currents underneath. Even spookier is the episodic “Dreamulator," which opens with the unsettling strains of a toy piano. An Afro-Brazilian groove transforms the vibe, and then quickly gives way to carefully latticed saxophone lines.

Visit Website

Comments

Tags

News

Popular

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.