Preview: Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey @ the Parish [Tonight]

If you're wondering if the people always shout whenever the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey goes out, we suspect the answer is no, as the trio produces music that we'd generally categorize more as "listening music" than "shouting music." JFJO's three-piece setup includes pianist Brian Haas, drummer Josh Raymer, upright bassist Matt Hayes, and guitarist Chris Combs.

Together, the gang work in a style that takes a slight nod toward the plaintiff guitar stylings of Texas swing and the plinking of the finest barroom piano even as the form is recognizably jazz. Occasionally dubbed "postmodern jazz," JFJO could just as easily be labeled "post-jazz country instrumental" or perhaps "post-country jazz instrumental."

No matter what you call them, though, the music makers offer an interesting hybrid that should appeal to fans of experimental music even as it sits right with audience members who might find themselves torn between the jazz club and the honky tonk. Listeners can catch particularly eerie strains of lap steel (from guitarist Combs) at times, the country and western standby flirting with conventional sounds even as it soars to unnerving places that would do Susan Alcorn right. JFJO are out in support of their recent EP, One Day in Brooklyn, which was released Sept. 1.

Austin-based jammers Moving Matter will open up the evening's entertainment. The show at the Parish is the second time that Moving Matter has shared the stage with JFJO, having performed together last night at Dallas's Granada Theater. Assuming the bands get along as well as we'd hope, it should prove a good night for jazz and experimental music downtown tonight.

[Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey Official]
[Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey MySpace]
[Moving Matter Official]
[Moving Matter MySpace]