mobella

"Mo": half the title of an early '90s Damon Wayans flick, and a slang term meaning more. Put it together with the Italian word for beautiful and you get Mobella; the name of a funky jazz band that mixes in elements of rock, soul and R&B, and Orlando's newest addition to the local band scene.

"Most people think that it means 'more beautiful' but that's not really what it was when we were coming up with it," said drummer Jeff Knapp, 22, with a snicker alluding to the obscure acronym the name truly represents.

"It means a lot of different things to us," he said. "Men Of Beautiful Enlightenment Living Life Askew is one."

"Monsters Of Belgium Eating Large Land Animals was another," added UCF student Sean Kantrowitz, 22, the band's guitarist.

All four members of the band smile and laugh as they clink glasses and sit together in a darkened corner booth last Saturday at Underground Bluz, a haven for local bands in Orlando.

Since coming together in February, the four guys had played only a few shows and were due onstage at the Bluz in an hour.

"I think labeling it is cheapening it," said lead vocalist and saxophone player James Gambrell, of the band's original sound that he believes challenges today's conventional music. "Let the beholder identify it for themselves."

Bass player Brandon Watson, 22, watched as people started to file in to the tiny, smoke-filled bar, and admitted to a little bit of nervousness but said he was mostly excited to show off what the band was capable of.

Before long, 200 people that had heard of the band through musical grapevines like Myspace.com had packed the room, and it was time for Mobella to go on.

After a few energetic songs and a 28th birthday tribute to Gambrell, Mobella made sure to say hi to fans old and new and seemed pretty enthused at the turnout that night.

"We're having a party at my house after this, and you're all invited!" shouted Watson from the stage to a happy and engaged crowd.

"Practice at my house is exactly what you saw at the show," Watson said off stage as he and his band mates toasted to their successful night. "I mean we dance at our practices and break a sweat."

"Our best practices are the ones where we don't say anything," added Kantrowitz who describes their practices and songwriting techniques as simply jam sessions where they just sit down and play whatever comes naturally.

So what are Mobella's plans for the future?

"I want to take it as far as it can comfortably and naturally go," said Kantrowitz.

But if Mobella doesn't go all they way, the group of UCF students, other than Full Sail student Gambrell, each have a plan b.

"I'll probably take to drinking," joked Kantrowitz as he raised his glass.

Alcoholic pursuits aside, Gambrell sees himself as a video game designer, Knapp, a hospitality major, hopes to one day own a bar and Watson, a marketing major, plans to study architecture.

"They say that architecture is music frozen in time," he said before taking a swig of beer.

"Who says that?" asked radio-television major, Kantrowitz.

"Uh ... I don't know, Nietzche?" asked Watson.

"When all else fails blame it on Nietzche," Gambrell said laughing. - Central Florida Future