JAzz ANd roCk…

/// the collision of two worlds ///

I didn’t grow up listening to jazz. As a kid, I was much more interested in rock music and its various subgenres.

When I did get into jazz in my early 20’s, I heard a lot about ‘fusion’ and how it melded jazz and rock styles. However, I never really got into fusion, and honestly thought ‘free jazz’ was more closely representative of rock music than ‘fusion’.

Either way, when I first heard The Bad Plus, I thought ‘Wow! Now this is REAL jazz/rock fusion’. That group ignited a new wave of possibilities for jazz artists of my generation that grew up as rockers.

One of those artists is NYC based guitarist Andy Bianco. I first met Andy through my old record-label ‘Outside in Records’. I subsequently had him on my podcast, and the last time he was in Philly, he asked me to join his band for a date at Chris’ Jazz Cafe.

Joined by Adam Niewood on tenor and Wayne Smith III on drums, we played many of Andy’s tunes, which have a very strong rock influence. From that night, here are two videos I’d love for you to hear.

This was a special night, not long after in-person events started happening again. After almost a year of not performing live. It was a blast and I hope you enjoy.