Jazz Articles about Sexmob

Sex Mob: Sex Mob Meets Medeski

by Lyn Horton
May 17, 2009

The two-minute “Mob Rule Invocation," which starts Sex Mob Meets Medeski, is enough to turn the tables on conventional jazz quintet genre, pointing the way to bridge the gap between the melodic and music that is so squarely and pristinely raucous that its intention is measurable in the fun the musicians are clearly having.

Recorded live at the Willisau Jazz Festival in 2006, this album reaches across a spectrum from spontaneous improvisation to pieces from Duke Ellington and Count Basie, ...

Sex Mob: Sexotica

by James Taylor
August 7, 2006

Sexotica showcases a unique band performing in an even more unique genre. Sex Mob, New York City's best band, according to a 2000 poll, has made a name for itself with jumping live shows and pop song-full setlists. Led by trumpeter Steven Bernstein, the quartet draws on the music of exotica pioneer Martin Denny for this sultry recording.

In addition to Bernstein, Sex Mob features altoist Briggan Krauss, bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen. The band turned to the ...

Sex Mob: Sexotica

by Brad Glanden
August 6, 2006

The easy listening boom of the middle 20th Century gave rise to some highly esoteric music. The “space age" fashions embraced by many a swinger hinted at a future that was never to materialize; an eagerness to test out new hi-fi systems resulted in a proliferation of quirkily arranged, bizarrely mixed records by bandleaders like Esquivel and Enoch Light. Among the strangest subgenres to emerge during this period was exotica, spearheaded by Martin Denny, who unashamedly regarded his music as ...

Sex Mob: Sexotica

by Mark Corroto
July 26, 2006

The only way to out-mob Steven Bernstein's Sex Mob is to go into the studio (as laboratory) and manipulate its sound. Sexotica is the group's fifth full-length release and its debut on Thirsty Ear Records, a label which has no hesitation to throw in handfuls of Teo Macero. The sampling and studio production by Good and Evil boost Sex Mob's kung fu to new levels, channeling it into some “alternate universe"-fu.

Sexotica follows Dime Grind Palace (Ropeadope, 2003), ...

Sex Mob: Sexotica

by Troy Collins
July 25, 2006

Sex Mob, a riotous avant party band, dedicates its fourth album to the father of exotica, Martin Denny. The group dabbled in subtle electronic production techniques with renowned hip-hop producer Scotty Hard on 2003's Dime Store Grind (Ropeadope). Assisted by the production team of GoodandEvil (Danny Blume and Chris Castagno), Sex Mob travels further afield here into electro-acoustic soundscapes.

While plumbing the depths of exotica for inspiration may seem a bit passé--the mid-1990s were the high point of ...

Sex Mob: Dime Grind Palace

by Mark Corroto
November 1, 2003

Sex Mob has always been more vaudeville than Lincoln Center Jazz. But they are also, I would argue, more Ellingtonian than Wynton and his Duke-wannabes.

The far-flung outfit was started in 1998 by slide trumpeter Steven Bernstein as a vehicle for his popular culture standup jazz act. Before The Bad Plus and Brad Mehldau thought to cover pop tunes, Sex Mob was twisting the macarena and the music of Prince and Nirvana into jazz vehicles. His earlier ...

Sex Mob: Sex Mob Does Bond

by Mark Corroto
October 1, 2001

Exactly, what does this terror-filled world require? Simply stated two words (actually three), Bond, James Bond. Saving the world, or in this case the popular entertainment world, is the band Sex Mob. Their take on the music of James Bond is more Chris Farley then Sean Connery. Where Bond composer John Barry oozed 1960 and 70s hip, Sex Mob reach for twenty-first century camp. Leader Steven Bernstein mines a sort of modern vaudeville in his music. His trumpet and musical ...