JAKOBZ LADDR

JAKOBZ LADDR March 29, 2006 - CRICKET ON THE HILL, Denver Colorado
A veteran group, The Mayflies from Iowa opened the night with wonderful and polished set of ‘Rock Grass’. When Jakobz Laddr took the stage they emerged to quite a draw of people with an up tempo “FUNK 47” and their rough hewn psychedelica was off and running. Next they went into “THE KING” a lively rocker, though their lead guitarist, Jeff Miles, had a few technical problems with his rig. With the problems solved they launched into “AMBER LYNN”, an offbeat tribute to a porn queen done to a heavy, bluesy chop beat, with rhythm guitarist Rob Leavitt providing some searing lead fills and bassist Juan Dominguez lathering up the song with a thumping pulse.

From there they changed pace into one of their hypnotic, psychedelic treasures “SOUNDTRACK”. The song glides in & out of reality and perhaps the only thing missing from it was some spacey keyboards as heard on their recorded material. Jakobz Laddr has two very creative and different song writers and the two guitar players seem to enjoy embellishing each other’s material as was the case with the next song “DEVIL” a sludge grunge blues piece with a wild Jeff Miles solo between verses on his composition and Rob Leavitt finishing it off with some eerie, nasty slide guitar.

Up to this point in their recent past 4 gigs or so they had yet to play anything but original music so it was a treat when they pulled out Hendrix’ “VOODOO CHILD/SLIGHT RETURN”. It was an interesting and admirable rendition and talking to the band their attitude on playing the music of such an icon is to celebrate and spiritualize Hendrix in their own manner, not to emulate or imitate his style. Thinking they were done the boys were starting to break down when the crowd urged them into an encore which they pulled out another blues jewel, a seldom heard Muddy Waters tune “LOUISIANA BLUES”, with Mr. Leavitt on slide guitar and Jeff Miles tearing it up. An interesting footnote on the show was their drummer was unavailable that evening and Shawn Reilly a bass player formerly of the band “Five Sided Mind” sat in on drums and kept wonderful time, not missing a step.

Art Schott
- Private source

JAKOBZ LADDR May 10, 2006 - CRICKET ON THE HILL, Denver Colorado

Let’s face it. There are a ton of bands out there; every genre, sub genre & genres yet to be named. Most bands have a modicum of proficiency and all have the cajones to get up and spill their art onstage. There’s a lot of jumping & shouting, screaming and banging; sometimes there is actually some music being played. JAKOBZ LADDR plays music – real tunes, melodies, lyrics, jams & a whole lot of substance. They don’t jump around in angst; they just drill into your mind with music.

What they may lack in polish, they more than make up for in the rich tones they blow into your brain. ADAM PEDERSEN a stalwart musician of the Denver scene said after their set “I could listen to this music all night”. JAKOBZ LADDR certainly could oblige.

The opening set by ADAM PEDERSEN was impressive. He and violinist Aaron Fuenning paint a colorful soundscape of moods and poignancy. Adam doesn’t just play a song; he lives it on stage, giving you a depth of soul few performers genuinely are able to portray. Adam can really sing too, with a voice that evokes a passion in life not too many people ever touch. Perhaps it was a nice balance to have the gifted voice of Adam before JAKOBZ LADDR played their gruff, rasping and guttural vocals over their sonic acid rock.

Opening with “BLUZ FOR SANCHO” the band blazed into a truly unique 12 bar structure with a splendid stop/fill bridge built for a drummer. After this perfect warm-up piece they sailed into “LOST”, a flowing, lilting socially conscious song in 3/4 time. A song in 3/4 time? That’s refreshing with all the 4/4 ditties most bands play. And for the socially conscious, the line directed at all politicians, “Seeing, hearing, believing not one” hits equally well along with the observation about man being “Blinded by Darkness in the Light of the Sun”. “FUNK 47” came next and though pleasingly warm, they’ve played it better other times I have seen them. More than making up for it Jeff Miles, Rob Leavitt & Juan Dominguez blasted their way into “DEVIL”, one of their thunderous songs, an anthem of temptation and redemption (in 6/8 time).

From here this is where their evening got interesting. Joining them on stage was Greg Grimm of the successful local band RUBBER PLANET, taking over on guitar with Rob Leavitt moving over to the keyboards. As the keys were being miked Juan Dominguez wandered into a blues bass line and once the keys were set they just sauntered into a remarkable blues jam, with Mr. Grimm and Jeff Miles blending their 2 unique styles over the backdrop of bass, drums and keyboards. It was a great way to break in another guitar and for Mr. Leavitt’s keys. Things started to soar as they lit into “SOUNDTRACK”, really one of the songs that typify their psychedelic style. Rob Leavitt generally is 2nd/rthymn guitar on this piece but with Greg and Jeff embellishing the spellbinding song with tasteful and timely leads, Mr. Leavitt was free to float above the sultry fusion of earth and space with aural tones from another universe.

Tried and true to their form, out emerged Hendrix’ “VOODOO CHILD/SLIGHT RETURN” with nearly 15 minutes of acid blues oozing lava from fissures of sound. What a boundless piece with two guitars, bass, organ, drums and the raspy enthusiasm of Leavitt’s voice. Their set finished with Mr. Leavitt back on electric guitar for the acoustic ballad “FIELDS OF EYLAU”. Perhaps better done acoustic and anticlimactic after the power of VOODOO CHILD, still it is one of their very good songs in a varied repertoire. Of note again Shawn Reilly rocked on drums, filling in again for Graham Knight who was unavoidably out of town.

Bottom line about JAKOBZ LADDR – other bands are more polished and crisp, few bands are as rich and sultry sounding as they are – YOU’VE GOT TO SEE THIS BAND!

Art Schott
- Private Source

JAKOBZ LADDR May 7, 2006 – Quixote’s True Blue, Denver Colorado

Booked as part of the Miles High Production ‘Progression Through Music” series JAKOBZ LADDR opened with a 10 minute version of “SOUNDTRACK” billowing huge clouds of psychedelic sound through out into the local musical Dead Head bar. I enjoyed this sonic happening and was sure they would soar from there. Unfortunately their sound was a little off as they broke into Scarlet Begonias->Fire on the Mountain.

Talking with them afterwards they felt obligated to play it at this Dead Head Mecca, and though they’ve torched it numerous times in practice, with Juan Dominguez being unavailable for recent practices with a deathly ill father and a new drummer they did not quite pull it off. Yet through it all Jeff Miles wowed everyone with probably his best live solo on Fire on the Mountain turning more than a few heads with his pyrotechnics. They finished with Muddy Waters’ “LOUISIANA BLUES”, again it was decent yet not their best set. Such is the life of a band; they just keep on plugging along and to be fair being rushed to play a 30 minute set is not the forte of a band that prides itself in lengthy songs that spew forth their psychedelica.

Cliff Briar
- Private Source

Contact JAKOBZ LADDR for a DVD of live perfomrances.

More Videos at http://www.youtube.com/JakobzLaddr

jakobzladdr@comcast.net
720-219-7130
- jakobzladdr@comcast.net

Toad Tavern 11/30/06
This late night show at the Toad Tavern was archetypal JAKOBZ LADDR – bluesy, colorful, and psychedelic. Speaking with guitarist Rob Leavitt he told me that really the key to their band is their drummer, Graham Knight. He said they found him at an unlikely source, a posting at gratefuljams website, after many traditional searches failed to yield this key component. “He really is just an extension of ourselves, we jelled instantly and the good vibe continues”.

The set started with “NEXT EXIT, THEN LEFT” a 7/8 time jazz,/blues/ psychedelic rumbling. Driven by Mr. Knight on drums and Juan Dominguez on bass the piece allows guitarists Jeff Miles & Rob Leavitt to build layers interacting blues and psychedelic colors over the jazzy back beat. This is a great opening piece to showcase the varied style this band possesses, a band definitely not stuck in 4/4 time (they do pieces as well in 6/8, 3/4 time & have a piece that uses both 4/4 & 3/4). From there they blasted into “ANIMAL SONG” with Jeff Miles on vocals and a tasty solo towards the end. This song hasn’t been part of their standard repertoire & probably could use a little polish but it is an up-tempo song and is a wonderful lament for any vegetarian. Next came “CONFINEMENT” an intricate piece that has many undertones and tempo changes, but really is keyed by its wonderful melody line. Mr. Leavitt is ostensibly the rhythm guitarist but on this piece written by Jeff Miles he weaves a tasteful counterpoint melody over the top of it all, even gaining praise from Alex Sandoval of the band “Aloft in the Sundry”.

JAKOBZ LADDR then moved into “LION 222” their newest piece, which is of a new genre ‘Acid Reggae”. This piece is very pulse/wah wah driven with “Irie I” exuberance and dramatic shifts. Closing out what was not one of their longer sets was their psychedelic standard “SOUNDTRACK” – this song surely could be labeled the “DARK STAR” of the new millennium. Miles, Dominguez and Leavitt have played together for many years and they flow hypnotically through time and space with this surging jam with the pulsation of Graham Knight’s “R U Kind” tempo.

All in all a great show can’t wait to see where they take us next.

Cliff Briar
- Private Source