Jazz Articles about Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey: All Is One - Live in New York City

by Glenn Astarita
July 2, 2002

The band with a name that seems to be a culmination of random selection is scaled down to a trio now. Recorded live at the Knitting Factory, this album provides a glimpse of pianist Brian Haas’ firebrand approach and the rhythm section’s stinging, jazz-funk and rock beats. Especially when they infuse ravenous improvisational forays with swiftly executed shifts in strategy. Haas also provides a rough-hewn edge when utilizing his treated Fender Rhodes. The core trio garners enthusiastic support from percussionists, ...

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey: Welcome Home

by Robert Spencer
December 1, 1999

The Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey is a funky jazz group featuring trumpeter Kyle Wright, trombonist Matt Leland, Rhodes man Brian Haas, bassist Reed Mathis, drummer Sean Layton, guitarist Dove McHargue, and percussionist Matthew Edwards. Of these eight originals, Wright wrote three, Leland one, Layton one, and Haas one. Plus there's one by the mysterious Jacob Fred himself, who is never identified, at least on this disc.

Bassist Mathis and drummer Layton are turned way up in the mix, and everything ...

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey: Welcome Home

by Jack Bowers
August 1, 1999

Who is Jacob Fred? Presumably a name drawn from a telephone book. Clever concept, though — and if that were enough to carry the day, an enthusiastic thumbs up would be in order for the Jazz Odyssey’s Accurate recording, Welcome Home. Alas, there is also the music to consider. Jacob Fred, a seven–member unit from Tulsa, Oklahoma, blends, it says, its “own brand of electric Jazz–funk–afro–hip hop.” That’s an undeniably Accurate description, as it was taken directly from a press ...

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey: Welcome Home

by Glenn Astarita
August 1, 1999

A septet which adhere to your basic jazz-funk 1970’s style hipness, the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey recorded seven of these tracks “live” in Tulsa, Oklahoma while two tracks were recorded in the studio. Welcome Home is all about grooves as in the opener, “Seven Inch Six”. On this piece bassist Reed Mathis and drummer Sean Layton lay down the solid funk beat as trumpeter Kyle Wright takes an extended solo followed by some adept trombone work from Matt Leland. One ...