Jupiter J a z z

Former UMSL student releases Jazz album
By Melissa McCrary

After 16 years of experience in music, Jerry Hill, former UM-St. Louis student, finally accomplished his life-long aspiration: he recently released his first album.

Aside from being the drummer, Hill is the current manager of Jupiter Jazz, a band that focuses on live hip-hop and spoken word.

Hill said he began playing standard jazz and became bored with the same traditional style.

"The music of Jupiter Jazz is a combination of hip-hop, spoken word, jazz and funk," Hill said. "We are all big fans of music and we try to get everyone involved."

He named some of the people who have had a strong impact on his life, including his past music instructors and professors from Washington University, UM-St. Louis and Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

While attending these three colleges, Hill studied a variety of musical genres, standard jazz and classical jazz being among them.

"I started playing music in high school as a drummer under the direction of Don Kenison," Hill said. "Dr. Don Parker and Dr. Bell are some other people who have influenced me."

What began as a four-man group evolved into a six-man band with a reputable name around St. Louis.

The other band members are Jason Hill, a vocalist and Jerry's younger brother, vocalist Jason Braun, violinist Keil Anderson, guitarist Neil Kulupka and bass player Jason Koenig.

"Me and Jason met through friends at a coffee house, and we both loved music and were interested in setting up a group that incorporated poetry into music," Hill said.

Anderson, who began his career in music as a struggling violinist, met Hill and Braun during an open-mic night at Venice Cafe in Soulard. After being introduced to one another, they discussed the possibility of forming a band.

Hill said that during the group's first two months together, each member did everything they could to get their name out in public.

"We have been together for about a year. At first we did an open-mic search. We went to just about every open-mic in the city, played and handed out fliers to promote us. We had landed our first real show at Atomic Cowboy," Hill said.

Since then, the group has performed at a variety of venues throughout St. Louis, Illinois and Arkansas. The Great Grizzly Bear, Off Broadway, Mississippi Nights, Cicero's, Hi-Pointe, The Pageant, Velvet and the Riverfest Music Festival in Little Rock, Ark. are just a few of the places that Jupiter Jazz has performed.

"My favorite song is 'Techno Chicken' because I love the feel and the high energy," Kulupka said. "I have enjoyed playing at The Pageant, Mississippi Nights and at the Arkansas River Festival."

In addition to touring the city and showing off their skills, Jupiter Jazz has also played with and opened for some legendary performers, singers and professional groups. They have played with B.B. King, The Black Crows, The Wallflowers, 4th Avenue Jones, Robert Randolph and the Family Band.

The St. Louis Riverfront Times voted this young rising group as one of the top five live dance and electronica Bands.

Craig Holt, freshman, political science, and former member of Jupiter Jazz, assisted with the group's creation.

"I think that the group has done well," Holt said. "Jerry is an entrepreneur and has done much work with keeping the group together and with making them become popular. The band has been listed in STL Scene and many people like them."

Their efforts at success hit home last week when they had the opportunity to promote themselves through a live radio show on 88.1 KDHX and on "The Best of St. Louis" television show.

On Friday, Aug. 26, Jupiter Jazz held their first album release show at Off Broadway.

To find out more about their group or to view a list of upcoming shows, visit www.Jupiter-Jazz.net.
- The Current

Hey Jupiter: With apologies to our musical friends in Hair, this is the dawning of the age of Jupiter. Ju-pi-ter! Jupiter Jazz performs its own fusion of live hip-hop and spoken-word poetry. JJ has played with B.B. King, the Black Crowes, the Wallflowers, 4th Avenue Jones and Robert Randolph, The stars have aligned! - The River front time

Jupiter Jazz:
Hip-hop/Spoken-word Band Debuts in Carbondale

by Jackie Westfall

St. Louis's Jupiter Jazz will perform Thursday, November 17 at the Hangar 9. Carbondale funk band Community Service is opening the show.

The six-man Jupiter Jazz consists of Jason "J.P." Hill on hip-hop vocals, Jason "The Professor" Braun on spoken-word vocals, Keil "The Swami" Anderson on the electric violin, Jerry Hill (also known as The Infamous j.Hill) on drums (brother of the Himalayas' Jef and Jason Hill), Jason "The Unknown" Koenig on bass, and Carbondale native Neil "One Neillion" Kulupka on guitar.

Jupiter Jazz performs a mishmash of spoken-word poetry and hip-hop with jazz and funk overtones. They have been described as Madlib or Metal Fingers meets Saul Williams. Band members cite George Clinton, Tom Waits, the Roots, and Rage Against the Machine as key musical influences. Jerry said that the band respects and is influenced by "The guys who are really layin' down the underground hip-hop with a strong amount of musicality to it that's not post-production or desktop-production style."

On their website, the band lays out their musical formula: "Jupiter Jazz is taking hip-hop back to its foundation by blending spoken-word and hip-hop lyrics into the harmonious union. Via live instruments, and seasoned vocalist[s], Jupiter Jazz is reinventing live underground hip-hop."

More recently, Jerry has called their current style "post-hip-hop."

When the band collaborates, Jerry said, "We're really looking for sound and influences that make up the essence of what you would consider Jupiter Jazz to be-- everything goes, everything is inspiration, everything is fair game unless it is protected by copyright."

"One [Jupiter Jazz] MC came up through battle rap and the other MC came through college with a spoken-word style," the Professor said, pointing to the diversity of vocal influences the band incorporates.

As for subject matter and personal beliefs, Jupiter Jazz see themselves as a politically aware group. "We don't push politics, but we love playing Rock the Vote shows, or Rap the Vote," J.P. said. "We are politically conscious and yet don't force our music to follow some platform."

Despite rumors that the origin of Jupiter Jazz's name can be traced back to episodes of anime television show Cowboy Bebop, the Professor insists that their name came from "Drinking Wild Turkey, eating mescaline, and watching the Cartoon Network."

Since their formation in August 2003, Jupiter Jazz has performed with B.B. King, Hank Williams Jr., the Black Crowes, the Wallflowers, and Robert Randolph and the Family Band.

The band tries to tour as much as they can, though during the last year they mainly played in the greater St. Louis area. This winter, however, they are branching out and will take their show on the road in larger cities from Chicago to Atlanta.

Jupiter Jazz, currently unsigned, are touring in support of a self-titled March release. This album, recorded at AMPstl in St. Louis (where emo band Story of the Year recorded an album early in their career), will be available for purchase at the show as well as through their official website, at <http://www.jupiter-jazz.net>. Meanwhile, Jupiter Jazz is currently working on their yet-untitled sophomore effort and have already recorded five songs. They are planning to release the full-length disc this spring.

When asked what brought Jupiter Jazz to Carbondale, One Neillion replied, "Everyone knows there's not a better place to party in Southern Illinois." Although Jupiter Jazz has never performed in Carbondale before, One Neillion said, "Most of us have been to La Bamba's for burritos."

As for a typical live show, Jupiter Jazz are keeping their feel a secret. They want the Carbondale crowd to make their own unbiased decision, but the Swami promised, "It's more fun than a co-ed Turkish bathhouse." - The Night Life

It may not be a new phenomenon but it is definitely out there.

Jupiter Jazz experimentally fuses elements of jazz and funk with the ranks of battle rap and poetic characteristics. The six-piece live hip-hop band will be performing with Community Service tonight at the Hangar 9.

Comprised mostly of students from SIUC's sister school in Edwardsville, Jupiter Jazz has performed with B.B. King, the Black Crowes, the Wallflowers, 4th Avenue Jones and Robert Randolph, all before the release of its first CD.

"I think that is because we are one of the only kind of funk fusion based hip-hop that also does spoken word," vocalist Jason Braun said. "People are ready for a new type of hip-hop.

"What we're doing that is proving hip-hop can be diverse. Everything is not typical."

Drummer Jerry Hill said Jupiter Jazz is very experimental, collaborating the characteristics in traditional hip-hop with full live elements and episode pieces of anime that the group enjoys.

"It's all on the fly all at any given moment," Hill said. "It works well. Hip-hop is spoken word. We are just taking it back to where it began." Incorporating poetry into other forms of music has existed since the early 1980s. Pioneer Marc Kelly Smith started a poetry slam in 1984 at the Get Me High Lounge in Chicago. This performance arts experiment was set up as a reaction to the boring state of pop music.

"It was really at a time when nobody was going to poetry readings," Smith said in a phone interview. He now helps start poetry slams all over the globe. He tours Europe three times a year. "We kind of learned on the spot."

Smith said different artists included different forms of mass media, including art slides, dance and live bands. Smith played with a jazz unit as part of the original slam shows.

Much of the history of poetry slam remains uncovered. While hip-hop came into the slam world in the mid-1990s, Smith said many believed to go mainstream was a betrayal to the cause of the form. The dominance of this type of thinking may have vanished slightly but its imprints remain.

"It is still a grassroots, homespun, under-the-radar movement," he said.

Still, Jupiter Jazz believes it can be a part of the group of the future that brings this genre to the public. Braun points out that poetic forms have always existed, from the days of poet Homer to African narratives to current day.

"Hip-hop is poetry," Braun said. "We aim to make people laugh, dance and learn. [Poetry] doesn't have to be boring." - The Daily Egyptian