by Pico
Very early in this site’s existence, I wanted to introduce the “Acid (Jazz) Redux” series and the choice for the inaugural album had to be one that represented the genre very well. That’s why Flyin’ The Koop by New Orleans funk-jazz outfit Galactic drummer Stanton Moore got the honor. A few years before that sophomore album of his, he and saxophonist Skerik (Skerik’s Syncopated Taint Septet, The Dead Kenny G’s, Critters Buggin’), percussionist/vibrist Mike Dillon (Mike Dillon’s Go-Go Jungle, Critters Buggin’, Brave Combo) and all-world guitarist Charlie Hunter informally got together after recording Moore’s first album and laid down a enough tracks to fill an EP and called themselves Garage A Trois.
This outfit created a sound not too far from Moore’s solo output, as it is acid jazz that’s very intelligent, very funky, too loose to be self conscience and too tight to fall into a trap of mindless noodling. Best of all, this occasional entity reflected the personalities of everyone involved. Although never meant as a going concern, the boys found themselves getting together for festivals not too infrequently and so it inevitable that they were going to schedule time around their main gigs to go full hog and record a full album of some songs they made together. And so, in 2003 their first full length-er Emphasizer came forth. Only a couple of years later they followed up with a soundtrack to the French film Outre Mer. Both albums lived up to the promise of the talents involved, perhaps not matching the best of any of these cats’ best individually, but coming darned close.
For those reasons, this is a band I’ve been looking for an excuse to cover here, and with Album #3 now out, I’ve now been provided with choice one.
Power Patriot, their third proper album, also represents the first line-up change: guitarist Charlie Hunter is replaced by keyboard gadgetry fiend Marco Benevento, while Skerik retreats from keyboard duties and sticks to his reeds. The departure of such a unique and powerful presence as the eight-string maestro Hunter was bound to leave a void, but Benevento is a little aberrant himself. That seems to be the overriding prerequisite for belonging in the Garage A Trois club as truthfully, everyone in the band is a little quirky in addition to being a lot accomplished. Benevento fits right in with this gleeful group of misfits.
You can hear Benevento hauling out his wide assortment of his self-described “bent circuit toys” for “Rescue Spreaders” (see video of live performance below) and manage to make it blend with Dillon’s vibes to create a aural crunch that’s part funk, part jazz and all whack. The fuzz quotient goes up a notch further still for “Fragile,” where the primary beat is rendered by Benevento and Dillon, and Moore powers a wicked counterbeat underneath it. Skerik does his part by stating the simple theme before his raspy tenor goes into full freak-out mode. Benevento is all over “Electric Doorbell Machine,” laying down a fat bass line to go with Moore’s backbeat, syncing up with Skerik’s harmony, and building layers of fuzz and electronic racket that eventually overwhelms Dillon’s warm vibes.
It’s not all gloom and doom: “Dory’s Day Out” is a bright, groovy ditty that’s keyed by Dillon’s airy vibraphone and some bells. The quartet does favor laying down the sinister grooves, though. The swirl of heavily distorted sounds found on “Fat Redneck Gangster” is just more proof that you don’t need no stinkin’ guitar to give a song swift kick in the pants with a thick crunch. “Power Patriot” comes off like a odd mixture of of gangsta hip-hop, metal and a cartoon soundtrack, and like anything else the boys experiment with, it somehow works. The super-funky, New Orleans-gestated beat goes on. Moore practically invents a time signature for “Computer Crimes,” that Dillon and Skerik jam along with, and Benevento washes over with waves of circuited sound. “Purgatory” is ambient music Garage A Trios style, which means that the calm gets disturbed at some point with some keyboard-generated fuzz-guitar noise and Moore’s jungle beat.
Power Patriot should allay any fears about the line-up change; Charlie Hunter’s departure did nothing to diminish Garage A Trois’ ability to match Medeski, Martin & Wood as preeminent, creative improvisers of the jazzy groove.
Power Patriot hit the street on October 26. Visit Garage A Trois’ website here.
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