It’s hard to believe that this year spring has already sprung. This time of year is my favorite. The sun is brighter, the days are longer, the ground is thawing and the new buds of the season are popping out of the earth. It’s also the beginning of concert season…
The first day of Daylight Saving Time 2008 started with several “firsts” for me – the first time this year I’ve seen green in my garden, the first time I’ve been to The Walnut Room in Denver (one of the best rooms for quality sound in the area), and the first time I’ve seen and heard The Brian Jordan Trio. I definitely feel spring fever coming on and have to admit there’s no better way to start it than with this amazing trio of talent.
I originally met the very soft-spoken Brian Jordan last year when he was playing as a special guest with another band. I knew then that I’d enjoy seeing him play his own music but in a different scenario. The Brian Jordan Trio provided a great opportunity to see three maestros making easy work of creating sounds that would normally take six exceptional musicians to make. This band consists of Brian Jordan on guitar and vocals, Andy Irvine on bass and Dave Watts playing drums, each of them an incredible musician in his own right.
So, you may ask, where does this magnificent trio fit into my springtime music garden? Anywhere and everywhere – and quite nicely! Brian’s music in itself is a “trio” as well as his band, being a combination of funk (my personal fave!), rock and jazz. Each song is flavored in one of those three styles or is a uniquely blended fusion of the three together in one song. Brian’s songs, like my garden in spring, constantly pops a variety of beautiful blooms all around, none of them the same and some showing up in unlikely places - taking the asymmetrical to a carefully crafted symmetrical garden feast. A concept that on paper doesn’t necessarily look like it would work out right, but the outcome ends up making one a believer in combining imaginary experiments with technically-based creative arts and producing something spectacular!.
The set list for The Brian Jordan Trio is a solid hour and 20 minutes of music that makes you want to be out of your seat and dancing the entire time. While taking photographs throughout this show, there were many moments where I was caught in the dilemma of trying to find a way to hold my camera steady to shoot photos while I tapped my foot to the funky groove that I was hearing. Then all of a sudden, I’d notice that the funky groove was now a rockin’ groove and instead of shooting photos while I tapped my foot, I wanted to find a way to shoot photos while I banged my head – totally impossible! That’s how easily this band switches gears without you even realizing it. Very smooth changes that can be hazardous when you’re a head banger like me holding eight pounds of camera gear in front of your face!
Brian Jordan tags some of his musical influences as Sly Stone, Prince, Led Zep, Jimi, Funkadelic, and Booker T. I did hear them all while I was groovin’ in his “garden”. His sound has been described as sultry and with a unique flair. It is that, and then some. At one point I was at the very back of the venue thinking I was hearing keyboards – an organ type sound, actually. Knowing there was not a keyboard player on stage, I literally walked up closer to see where that sound was coming from. It was Brian’s guitar producing the sound – just one of the zillions of “flowers” from his “garden”. The sound surprises didn’t stop with just Brian either. Bass player, Andy Irvine had a lot of tricks up his sleeve as well, delivering several out of this world solos that were incomparable in technique to any other I’d heard in a long, long time. Coupled with the fantastically solid drumming of Dave Watts, this is a rhythm section to beat all rhythm sections. From the opening song, “Floating Along”, to well over an hour later at the end of the set, these guys laid down a perfectly tight groove together.
The Brian Jordan Trio is currently playing around the Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and California areas through the end of April with additional dates being added all the time. Brian’s calendar can be viewed and his music purchased on both his website: www.brianjordan.net and myspace: www.myspace.com/brianjordanmusic. Visit his “garden”; you won’t be disappointed in the flowers…
