Kneebody and Happy Apple at the Great American Music Hall, November 7, 2007

I discovered Kneebody a few years ago when they played at Ameoba Records in LA. I remember walking in and first seeing the sax player, who was on his knees fumbling with some effects and making some mean noise. The bass and Rhodes were nice and distorted, and while it was clear there was a lot of complexity going on, these guys were rocking it. Hard.
Seeing them last week, about three years later, there are certainly some differences. They played a show at the Great American Music Hall, a venue usually geared towards rock and pop acts. While Kneebody certainly has not gone soft, or pop, they seem to have eschewed the “younger,” more thrashy sound of their earlier days for some more song oriented, almost brainy material.
After a floaty, ephemeral intro, the band went into a pulsing, rhythmic piece that was focused on more composition rather than improvisation. The five members all seemed to have their own rhythmic agenda, with melodies and chords dancing around each other in a way that seemed to echo Steve Reich’s compositions.
Most of the set was geared in such a direction. Each tune was an unpredictable series of grooves that to me echoed the dark soundscapes of Radiohead only with Kneebody’s signiture harmonic and rhythmic complexity. For example, the second to last tune, which was perhaps the most exciting, started with Endsley, trumpet, playing a lyrical, fanfare like passage with some Arabic flavors. After a melodic cue, Wood started in with some cymbal concentrated drumming, laying down the first in a long series of morphing grooves while the horns played some close melodies, creating some sweet sounding dissonances. The rhythm section played at times like Metallica trying to play like funk, or maybe like The Family Stone trying to play metal. Wendel’s solo was frantic, calculated, and interesting, as he seemed to be playing phrases that were unique but almost intentionally unsatisfying.
It’s hard to tell how much of a Kneebody tune is improvised and how much is composed. They are known for using a series of pre-planned musical cues to go from one groove to the next, to change tempos, modulate, or to tell certain members to drop out or come in. This lends itself to a fascinating, albeit sometimes enigmatic sort of group improvisation that creates the impression that the song is playing itself. For example, the tune Coat Rack, which I knew best out of everything they played, had an unfamiliar, extended solo section, in which Benjamin growled franticly on his distorted Rhodes over a bed of distorted bass and break-beat drums. When they went back into the head, it was twice as fast, and over a galloping, ping-pongy groove that seemed to come out of nowhere.
However, the Kneebody I used to see a couple years ago, and that lots of LA musicians I know talk about, used to use these cues a lot more, taking the songs to looser, more stretched out and freeform realms where the solos were more exhilarating and the songs were less distinct as individual compositions. Perhaps it was the crowd and the nature of the event, being a sit down, Jazz festival shindig rather than a small, local venue, that made them tailor their music into a series of easy to digest songs that showed off their group sound more than their unpredictable energy.
Kneebody was, as always, enthralling. Because of my own personal taste, I would have liked to see some more daring improvisation from the group and the soloists alike, but it was still very satisfying to hear a band with such a unique approach to instrumental, improvised music that ties the spirit of what came before with the influences my generation was raised on.



My first impression of The Happy Apple, a trio consisting of David King, drummer for The Bad Plus, plus Michael Lewis on sax and Erik Fratzke on bass, was that they would fit in more so at the Warped Tour than the SF Jazz festival. Fratzke had on a trucker hat and a patchy beard and Lewis had long hair, and wore tight jeans and converse. But after hearing them play, I realized not only do these guys have the chops to set them apart from any straight up punk outfit, but they have a frenetic and free approach to improvised music that sets them apart from other jazz outfits too. To my ears, they sound as though they were trying to channel the spirit of Ornette Coleman, but filtered through their frenzied, punk aesthetic.
The first tune they played was a melodic, major key vamp that was pleasant, but didn’t really go anywhere. The next tune, however, is where they really started to show off their sound. It started with a lumbering, mathy head that rose and fell freely, and seemingly impulsively. After this complex section, Lewis searched the range of his horn with an extreme urgency, belting his runs out like some sort of punk singer, and moving about the stage like one too. After the solo sections, in which Fratzke showed off his lightning fast chops and King his impressive control of time and rhythm, a key aspect of Happy Apple’s sound came through to me. All three players seemed to be playing their own thing, and yet it all seemed to be contributing loosely to the overall idea of the song. It was less like a melody and more like a patched together groove, which requires all three voices to form the totality of the head.
The next tune really brought Ornette’s sound to my mind. Entitled “Me and Mateo vs. You and Celequo,” it started with the bass and sax playing the melody in unison. This was a technique common in Ornette’s music in the 60’s and 70’s, giving the band only a melody to interpret for soloing purposes. The bass really filled in a lot of space as Lewis Soloed, while King kept loose, blazing rhythms which tied the groove together.
Some moments were better than others, however.. Some of Fratzke’s solos ventured into the territory of a wankfest, with him showing off his shredding ability on his instrument with little direction. Lewis had a tiny, toy looking keyboard next to him, which for some reason he never played. It would have been nice to hear a little sonic variety, especially from a group that uses their multi-instrumental talent on their albums.
Overall, the show was fun, with a few almost gimmicky ideas keeping the mood light. King played with different toys throughout the next few tunes, which he supposedly borrowed from his kids. He started one song with a music box type thing, which played a garbled, major melody that served as a foundation for the band to improvise loosely over. One tune had the King playing some Latin grooves while Fratzke and Lewis played an unwieldy, almost clumsy contrasting groove. King described it best as “Vikings trying to play Cuban music.” There was no lack of variety in color, as the band moved in and out of free sections, drum and bass grooves, and thrasher parts which got the trio headbanging like the best of them. A great performance from a band I’d like to hear more from, with the energy and attitude that will hit home for anyone looking for some improvised music played with a little more edge.