Sex Mob

[johnagrandy]

I got into Sex Mob from the very beginning (at least as much as I could from the wrong coast) ...

Anyway, at first I didn't get it, but then I got it. Recently I loaned all my mob CDs to a musician living in a household of young musicians either with masters degrees in electronic music , or who play professional jazz or classical gigs (one is a decent jazz organist, I know that from hearing him). These guys are heavy into all sorts of avant garde stuff I've never heard of.

So the feedback that comes back to me is that they gave it a listen and they all hated the mob's music , all five of them ! I couldn't even get a clear idea of what they thought wrong with it except one guy said it sounded like they were trying too hard. They didn't even listen one tune all the way.

So, if these guys aren't getting what Berstein etc. are up to , I'm wondering who out there is ?

Edited January 7, 2006 by johnagrandy

[chuckyd4]

Sorry, I'd have to side with those guys. I bought two of their albums back in the late 90's-2000 era, listened to both of them a number of times all the way through, and ended up selling both of them back. Never clicked for me. I think my reaction would be something along the lines that it seemed cold and detached to me. If it was supposed to be sly and witty, I just found it boring. If it was supposed to be hard-hitting, grab you by the balls type of music, I just found it ho-hum.

Not really sure what these guys were going for, but it never grabbed me in any significant way.

[king ubu]

I love these guys! Bernstein's Diaspora Blues/Soul/Hollywood projects, Kamikaze Ground Crew, Sex Mob, Michael Blake - and obviously then, the Lounge Lizards!

This is a kind of jazz that is pretty simple, often, and very much fun, yet it never gets boring, at least for me.

Favourites include Bernstein's first Tzadik disc, "Diaspora Soul", Michael Blake's "Drift", plus some live dates...

(edited to add covers)

Edited January 7, 2006 by king ubu

[gnhrtg]

I quite like Diaspora Soul and would recommend it - definitely up to the cantorial transcriptions (but not Diaspora Blues, for instance, and the one time I saw Sex Mob live was good fun but I don't think I'd every pay for their records).

[Tom in RI]

I like the Diaspora Soul cd and have heard a couple of live dates from torrents that were also entertaining enough for me. I put the Diaspora Soul cd on during a cookout last summer and the reaction from a friend of mine who is Jewish was priceless. He was so unprepared to hear melodies he was quite familiar with in that context.

[White Lightning]

I too like Bernstein's "Diaspora" CDs, especially "Diaspora Soul". I've heard several of the Sex Mob CDs and it left me cold.

[Aggie87]

I like both the Bernstein solo discs (alot) and the Sex Mob discs (quite a bit). I wouldn't treat the Sex Mob as any "deeper" music than say MMW or Bad Plus, and on that level they're quite fun.

[chuckyd4]

I wouldn't treat the Sex Mob as any "deeper" music than say MMW or Bad Plus, and on that level they're quite fun.

Maybe that's why I never really got the Sex Mob stuff. Those other two groups are also among the groups I've bought multiple CDs by and then ended up selling all of back. I don't hate it, just always felt like I'd never listen to it without prompting, and would rather use some of that money for other discs.

[JSngry]

Tony Scherr played in one of my bands waaaaaay back in the day (1980s). Great player, and an even greater spirit. Nothing but love for him from here.

As for Sex Mob, hey, they're doing it how they feel it. Not necessarily something I feel too warmly about too consistently, but so what?

[nathan]

I've seen them a lot live, and always loved it (best shows: several NYC Tonic Midnight shows and a show at Blake's in Berkeley with Wayne Horvitz added on organ), but I've never been that moved by their discs. I guess it's just another one of the many bands best experienced live? Not to say that the discs are awful...how bad can something with Kenny Wollesen be, after all? Just not quite there, to my ears.

That said, the above-mentioned "Diaspora Soul" album by Bernstein is one of my favorites. Just a spirited, grooving, lovely record. Great contributions from the Cubanos Postizos rhythm team, among others. My favorite Bernstein project of all is his un-recorded Millennial Territory Orchestra, a New York club fixture. I have my worries about that band capturing their spirit on an album, but it would be worth a try. And if you're ever in NYC when they're playing, it's not to be missed!

Musical content aside, I do find Bernstein to be one of the most hysterical and charming bandleaders around...his between-song banter -- especially with MTO -- is priceless. Sweet guy too.

nathan

[Kalo]

I think that the records are okay, but I was truly impressed when I saw them live. These guys killed, despite a thin house.

I agree that Bernstein is a real wit, as well as a nice guy. Not to mention an excellent musician, as are Wollesen and Krauss. Scherr, unfortunately, didn't make the gig. I will definitely see them again the next chance I get.

Here's the review I wrote for a local rag (only my second article for them). I didn't get much space to say what I had to say, but I tried my best:

MUSIC REVIEW

Sex Mob's rollicking jazz shows fun has many facets

By Kevin Lowenthal, Globe Correspondent | September 23, 2004

CAMBRIDGE -- Sex Mob brings fun and funk back to jazz, recalling the days when it was wrong-side-of-the-tracks party music. With an off-kilter sense of humor, the New York quartet covers rock tunes alongside jazz classics, drawing on everything from the earthy gutbucket style of early New Orleans to the fire-breathing glossolalia of the 1960s new thing.

On Monday night, Sex Mob took the stage for its first set at the Regattabar looking more like rockers than a jazz band. Alto saxophonist Briggan Krauss and versatile drummer Kenny Wollesen, both founding members, were joined by bassist John Hebert, who was remarkably at home filling in for the ailing Tony Scherr.

Bandleader Steven Bernstein plays the obscure slide trumpet, which looks and sounds like a pint-size trombone. To vary its timbre, he employs not only the standard mutes but a microphone plugged into an overdriven guitar amp, making his trumpet sound like Jimi Hendrix cranked to 11.

The first number, "Holiday of Briggan," was an angular original displaying the band's mastery of dynamics, shifting grooves, and spontaneous interaction. Midway through, altoist Krauss took an ululating, serrated solo. This daunting opener segued into an alternately slinky and heavy take on the 1930s Count Basie evergreen "Jive at Five."

Numbers flowed from one to the next, bridged by an atmospheric Wollesen drum solo, a veritable jazz bass seminar from Hebert, or one of Bernstein's hip, absurdist stand-up routines.

They played Prince's "Darling Nikki," starting on tip-toe and ending in a stomp. Their version of the Who's "I Can See for Miles" was unrecognizable until the blaring refrain, with Wollesen in full Keith Moon effect. The set ended with a woozy rubato reading of the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday," which snapped upright with the crisp chorus.

The second set offered more jazz than rock tunes. Basie got another nod, a relatively straight reading of his "Blue and Sentimental," with Krauss's alto channeling the awesome vibrato of jazz's first great saxophonist, Sidney Bechet. They ended with a Sex Mobbed take on Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth."

But the set's highlight was a beautiful, hushed version of the reverential Duke Ellington ballad "Heaven," which demonstrated that Sex Mob is not only fun, it's deep, too.

Sex Mob

At: Regattabar, Monday night

© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.