Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey
Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States | INDIE
Music
Press
"'Lil Tae Rides Again' bathes in electro-blackness, a blood-red island in a skewed fantasy. Gorgeous or beastly, it sticks to your shivering bones." -- Under The Radar Magazine
"Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey step through the looking glass to emerge from the shadows of their disparate rock and jazz influences with something wholly fresh. Producer Tae Meyulks transforms these sessions into a sonic wonderland." -- The Absolute Sound
"'Tether Ball Triumph' layers shimmering, overlapping melodic fragments over hushed drum 'n' bass rhythms. The eerie 'Santiago Lends a Hand' sounds like a lullaby for the post-apocalypse before ominous, lurching beats come to the fore. One of the few uptempo pieces here is the dub-tinged 'Discovering the Time Capsule,' where sweet, nostalgic accordion sighs waft through thick, metallic piano chords — imagine Tortoise in waltz mode." -- SF Weekly
"...truly intoxicating." - East Bay Express
"....powerfully evocative, making the listening experience alternately trying and transcendent." - Bass Player Magazine
"A breadth and vision nearly untouched in modern jazz except by the likes of Wayne Shorter and Bill Frisell."
- Signal to Noise, 2006
"Sameness of Difference is a post-modern jazz masterwork, a disc that will still seem fresh in five years even though it also seems right in the present moment."
- Jazzitude Magazine
"When it comes to doing things differently, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey is right at the forefront. This trio of creative minds has come up with one of the best releases of 2005"
- All About Jazz NYC
"It swings, it sways, but the jazz trio form in their hands has an almost primitive, inside-your-head, idiosyncratic quality to it that suggests the three are truly one."
– Downbeat
"On The Sameness of Difference, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey weave the kind of impressionistic, imaginative new jazz that shatters any kind of identity, much less categories and classifications."
-Chicago Sun Times
"4 out of 5 Stars -- [They] joyfully apply their jazz smarts to pop and rock....There's playfulness...but also genuine heart: witness an emotional, reverent look at Brian Wilson's 'Wonderful'.."
-Mojo Magazine
"The Sameness of Difference features JFJO's patented improvisational brilliance on a set divided by remarkable originals and startlingly arranged covers ...With an expanded and insanely broad songbook to choose from, the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey has deservedly become one of the most talked about Jazz trios in recent memory." - Cincinnati City Beat
"...a sort of arranged chamber jazz that owes a great deal to classical and modern music...The album begins with the Hendrix tune, and it's the best opening track on an album since, well, Jimi started off his own Electric Ladyland album with it...This is the band's best album yet." - Paul Olsen, All About Jazz
The Sameness of Difference is placed in perfect equilibrium between tradition and modernity with the mark of refinement. – Jazz Magazine '06 (Italy)
"Their jazz-rock-electro-whatever sound has been honed in 12 years together and the chemistry is as formidable as it is omnivorous." -Relix Magazine, 2005
"A quintessential piece of post-modern jazz which plays tribute to a number of influences and mentors...a fantastic mix of originals and covers, each a seamless voyage..." - Blogcritics.com
Press Raves for JFJO
"This band was born out of a messianic devotion to the idea that jazz means improvisation. They thrive on risk, often creating spontaneous compositions onstage." – Downbeat
"JFJO burns with a quiet intensity rather than dramatically explodes. The musicians play with a coiled looseness, improvising with quicksilver yet deliberate force. You can hear the band's power and inventiveness creatively eroding structure, and the tension produced from that is exhilarating. If JFJO isn't moving jazz forward, it is shifting its center of gravity interestingly askew."
- JazzTimes, 2004
"In my humble opinion, one of the most fascinating trios currently walking around on God's green earth." - Dick de Waal, SlagwerkKrant '06 (Netherlands)
"It's all there: the talent, the expression, the humanity. All we can do for now is hope that Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey is, in fact, the future of Jazz." - The Daily Collegian
"JFJO - a band unwilling to compromise their creativity for the mainstream ear - has developed a constantly evolving sound unlike virtually anything on today's market." - Jambase
Hipper than MMW, louder than The Bad Plus, wider-ranging than just about any other jazz piano trio, these guys have taken some giant steps to the forefront of modern jazz. -Practical.org
"The #1 New Star of Jazz in America"
- U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT (Special 2002 Music Issue)
"The bravest, strangest trio to bitch slap the calcified face of jazz in a decade." - Jambase
"Together this intrepid trio has reinvigorated jazz music's corpulent canon with a glorious spiritual jumpstart that puts them solidly on the map of the new jazz landscape."
- Jonathan Zwickel, Crazewire.com
"Within this realm of jazz, the group speaks a language with its music, both as individual players and collectively, that cripples the feeble descriptives of the written word." -RELIX Magazine
"...strikingly fresh, musically substantial...influenced by the heightened excursions of saxophonist John Coltrane." – Bass Player Magazine
"There's no reason for this trio to be as good as they are...(Walking with Giants is) just the sort of jazz album that Charles Mingus could look down from heaven and smile upon!
-Orlando Weekly
"You cats are pushing jazz forward in a brand new direction. Thank you."
– Jazz Legend Cecil Taylor after listening to JFJO for 3 hours
"You'll be hearing a lot about Reed Mathis from the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, because he's doing innovative stuff." - Les Claypool, Bass Player Magazine: 2002
"Captivating" - John Murph, JazzTimes
"Fun, funky and crazy, and the audience loves it" - Andy Hamilton, Wire Magazine, (UK)
"...they've transported this music back from some distant eon where boundaries between genres have been abolished and music, pure music, pours out like water from a rock in the desert before thirsty Israelites. It's like forbidden technology from the future smuggled back through a tear in the time-space continuum. They are onto something most haven't caught up with..yet."
- Dennis Cook, Crazewire.com
"one of the most consistently creative and dynamic groups on the scene today."
- Bill Milkowski, (Liner Notes of All is One: Live in NYC)
"Haas is a free player, creating his own style of music that brazenly eludes any label or descriptionÉyou can hear the sound of musical boundaries being erased, and itÕs a beautiful thing." –Robbie Gennet, Keyboard Magazine
"Haas is a true innovator with amazing skills." - High Times
"Drummer Jason Smart's delicate touch is sheer genius." – Skope, 2004
"As one of the hottest touring bands on the scene today, JFJO is as real as it gets." - Lee Abraham, Las Vegas Weekly
"defies expectation and stands out from the sea of bands."
- Pete Gershon, Signal to Noise
"one of new jazz's most inventive trios, tearing up sonic terrain with a seamless blend of composition and improvisation"
– Ted Drozdowski, Pulse Magazine, 2002
"more harmonically involved and rhythmically intricate than anything coming out of the jam-band scene" – Bill Milkowski, JazzTimes, 2004 - Various
Discography
2008 - Lil Tae Rides Again:Live
2008 - Lil Tae Rides Again
2006 - Tomorrow We'll Know Today
2005 - The Sameness of Difference
2005 - 4 Improvisations For The Ghosts
2004 - Walking With Giants
2003 - Symbiosis Osmosis
2003 - Slow Breath, Silent Mind
2002 - Telluride is Acoustic
2002 - All Is One: Live in New York City
2000 - Self is Gone
2000 - Bloom
2000 - Live At Your Mama's House
1998 - Welcome Home
1996 - Live In Tokyo
1995 - Live At The Lincoln Continental
Photos
Bio
Pianist Brian Haas, drummer Josh Raymer, and bassist/effects wizard/guitarist Reed Mathis occupy a rather unique place in the music world. To say that JFJO's music transcends boundaries is an understatement. Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey's bold, amorphous and visceral music is influenced just as much by post-rock and ambient electronica as traditional jazz standards, chamber music and free improvisation.
JFJO's music generates an all-encompasing sensory experience for the listener. Since 1994 JFJO's virtuosic instrumental interplay, uncanny ability to communicate musically and near-telepathic improvisation has won over fans and critics alike all over North America, Europe and South America. In April 2008 JFJO released their fourteenth album, 'Lil Tae Rides Again,' their fourth release with Brooklyn-based Hyena Records. Garnering rave reviews in SF Weekly, Absolute Sound, Downbeat, and more, the album marks a departure from the past, with a focus placed on orchestrating sonic tapestries based on minimalist melodies and sweeping tonal textures.
In 2004, JFJO released their first album with Hyena Records, Walking with Giants. 2005 saw the release of their second Hyena album, The Sameness of Difference, an album of 13 songs (all but one recorded in one day) produced by recording heavyweight and Hyena label head Joel Dorn. Unlike the all-originals Giants, more than half of Sameness’s tunes are covers of songs by a remarkably eclectic set of composers (Bjork, Brian Wilson, Charles Mingus, Dave Brubeck, Neil Young). This latest effort continues in the groups quest for constant change and exploration, once again re-imagining their creative horizons and blurring genres.
These three musicians are musical chameleons who can move crowds in small jazz clubs, big rock clubs and performing arts theaters. JFJO may be dropping jaws while opening up for Sound Tribe Sector 9 or they may be receiving multiple standing ovations while opening up for Al Di Meola - all in the same week of touring. They have been celebrated by the jazz world - playing regularly at NYC's Blue Note and the now defunct Tonic, in some of Europe's biggest jazz theaters, and appearing in major jazz magazines such as Downbeat and JazzTimes - but they also have found success and audiences in the jam scene - playing large festivals and performing with the likes of Steve Kimock and Les Claypool. 2008 will find JFJO at such prestigeous festivals as Guinness Cork Jazz Festival in Ireland, the 40th Umea Jazz Festival in Sweden, and the infamous Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island.
The Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey is the evolution of an ongoing musical discourse that's been developed over countless tours. Starting out Tulsa, OK as a funky octet in 1994, JFJO became a trio around the turn of the century. Haas and Mathis have been playing together for almost fourteen years (Raymer joined the band just last year) and have, year after year, maintained a tour schedule that would crush less dedicated musicians. Over time, the trio has blossomed into one of the most visionary, fearless and tight bands around. JFJO's music offers a different sound that exhibits a rare form of abstract yet mature musical freedom and inquiry.
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