Sex Mob Rocks 'Sco

New York Jazz Quartet Heats Up with Funky Covers

Oberlin, for some reason, does not come out to see good music. Though improved over attendance at some recent shows, the crowd at the 'Sco was still far too anemic, considering the vital offering put forth by New York jazz quartet Sex Mob.

The band - leader Steven Bernstein on slide trumpet, Briggan Krauss on saxophone, Tony Scherr on upright bass, and Kenny Wollesen on drums - seemed to draw their roots from a myriad of traditions. Elements of the same lounge camp played by Keller poked through the surface in places. The predominant mutation, though, seemed to be a fertile cross-breeding of downtown free music and New Orleans dixieland.

In an age where many bands, hip or not, seem to be playing ineffectual white boy funk, it was nice to see a group attempting something else. Led by Bernstein's slide trumpet, the band swayed and bopped through two hour-long sets that tread a thin line between order and chaos.

The opening number, held together by a muscular Scherr bassline, began with articulated long horn blasts from Bernstein and Krauss. Standing on opposite sides of the platform, the duo moved towards center stage as the bellowing dissolved into a raucous stomp. Midway through the tune, the band slipped into freeness.

As Scherr and Wollesen built cresting sheets of sound, Krauss rode the top, squawking joyously on a towel-muted sax, and Bernstein soon joined in. With nary a signal, the band seamlessly segued back into the long horn blasts at the beginning of the tune before dropping swiftly back into the head. The chaos functioned in a similar manner all night, working towards the greater purpose of interesting song arrangements.

Not Boweevil: Sex Mob graced the 'Sco with a liberal blend of funky covers ranging from ABBA to Nirvana. (photo courtesy of Knitting Factory Records)

After the opening jaunt, the band played "Fernando." That's right, the ABBA song. The band managed to transform the melody into an enjoyable brass arrangement, not a small feat for a tune from the Swedish disco demigods.

Or, as the liner notes to Sex Mob's new album, Solid Sender, describe it, "hallucinations on three minutes of melody. The Art Ensemble of Chicago meets Phil Spector." That about gets it right.

The band moved into "For What It's Worth" midway through the second set. The song's familiar melody, done as an almost New Orleans-style funeral dirge, acted as an island in the middle of uncharted improvisational waters. Throughout the evening, Bernstein conducted the band in what at first appeared to be a nearly fearsome style.

Bernstein would wheel around, grinning maniacally, and, gesticulating wildly, signal a band member. Occasionally, he would even shout what he wanted and keep shouting until he got just exactly that which he desired. Moving from one musician to the next, Bernstein arranged the band like a producer setting levels, mapping to some score embedded in his neural pathways.

Once everything was in balance, he would turn to the mic - wired through a vintage Silvertone tube amplifier that made it sound like he was playing through a Victrola - and let loose a solo. Behind him, the rest of the group would mirror Bernstein's earlier smile.

The evening ended with a Bernstein-led sing-along of "Not Boweevil," which concluded with the band leaving the stage behind for a couple of weaves through the audience before converging by the bar, and filing into the hallway outside the 'Sco, still playing and theoretically wandering off into the night... except that they returned to the room a few minutes later to pack their gear and hawk CDs.