The Beat Circus: Ringleader's Revolt

The Beat Circus operates on a musical boundary hardly ever performed live or even heard on record. Their performances on this release, however, have a jumping dramatic flair with a clear—almost visual—goal that corresponds with the individual titles, as well as the overarching subject matter, which stands for salient moments during a circus show. As such, longer compositions are intersped with shorter ones. Both, however, have an important effect in a work that must be heard in its entirety. Perhaps one way of recounting this oddly entertaining music would be as dissonant avant-jazz circus music with a tellingly aged approach nonetheless—as readily illustrated by the alto sax solo in "Mandalay Song, the banjo playing throughout the record, and the lunatic wistful discordant melodicism of "Big Top Suite Part 2: Clowns.

Because of its jazz era "oompa-oompa swing core, "The Mack might very well be one of the most readily decipherable cuts, although it's hardly predictable. It features an energetic and engaging series of solos from sax and banjo, as well as a slurred tuba solo, which has a verbal quality. Its coda is a free-for-all counterpoint.

Ringleader's Revolt, one of my preferred releases of 2004, is a premiere example of musical wittiness and unpredictability. After all, where else are you going to hear the metaphorical use of phrases such as "...aphids on a martini shaker... or "...Like an army of living pogo sticks, they jack hammered their way to a new life... but in a performance of "Escape From the Big House ?

Visit the Beat Circus on the web.