Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey

Have you ever dumped a large box of legos on the floor? If you say yes then you know about the millions of endless possibilities lying in front of you. It’s not the final product that so exciting, but the way you build to the end that’s the fun of the project. The Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey has done ultimately that. They have built a master Lego castle of jazz pieces by grouping together covers and original work on their latest album The Sameness of Difference.

JFJO enters an area that they previously let lay untouched. They stray away from their wild unruly live performances and move to a cohesion and maturity as a band. They bring highs to jazz that are virtually unheard of today while continuing to weave together solid song basses. The album is filled with obvious stand outs. “The Fables of Faubus,” a Charles Mingus cover, places Brian Haas at the heart of the composition. His fingers place light melodic legos building the spiraling towers of music. The Flaming Lips cover “The spark that bled” builds to an almost scream-like fury. Listeners can’t help but feel emotionally connected to this song. There is also a live gem snuck in at the end, a wonderful take on the Beatles “Happiness is a Warm Gun.” Jason Smart offers tinges of Joe Bromillo, the Brubeck drummer through this crafty number.

The covers are fun, but almost better than the covers are their originals. “Santiago” bounces with life pulsing and fluttering along with lofty flight. The “Maestro” offers more of the building jam that attracts many to the jazz trio. “Davey’s Purple Powerline” and “Halliburton Breakdown” lay back-to-back and are anchored down by the bottom of Reed Mathis’s bass.

The Sameness of Difference pulls you into a deconstructed universe of song and jazz. As you listen to certain sections of songs your ears can pick up the melodies of the originals over the covers. At other points you are sent whirling in opposite unparalleled directions. Just let yourself go and JFJO will take you to a place in your imagination. The place you tried to capture in the Lego towers of your youth. Watch for this album to pop-up at this years Jammy’s, and pick it up before that happens so you can have something to listen to as you dig out your old boxes of legos and create.