Marco Benevento: jazz-rock that doesn't suck

For as long as rock 'n' roll has existed, there have been improvisationally inclined musicians trying to jazz things up. Over the years the have been a few promising one-off experiments usually relegated to the B-sides of singles but they've been overshadowed by the grand-scale failures.
Because rock music at it's best is meant to be a simple and direct expression of the most primal human instincts, any attempt to raise the level of complexity – whether by introducing unusual rhythms, oddball chord progressions, elaborate orchestrations or protracted exhibitions of instrumental virtuosity – removes you from the core essence of the form. If you aren't careful, you'll soon have all sorts of pejorative qualifiers applied like "abstract", "avant" and "progressive" at which point it's only a matter of time before someone drops the dreaded "F" bomb.
Brooklyn-based keyboardist Marco Benevento, who studied at Berklee with jazz pianist Joanne Brackeen and looks to Brad Mehldau as a mentor, has been using his hot-rodded 1927 Wurlitzer upright (outfitted with guitar pickups and various effects) to explore the dangerous territory between jazz and rock with some success, albeit more artistic than commercial.

As can been seen in the numerous YouTube clips of the Marco Benevento Trio irreverently bashing their way through Led Zeppelin's Friends, My Morning Jacket's Golden and Pink Floyd's Fearless, the playfully roughhousing approach favoured by the 33-year-old bandleader is more in line with what Deerhoof and Holy Fuck have been up to than say the Yellow Jackets or The Bad Plus. It's not so much a fusion of forms as an explosive collision. His self-released third album Between the Needles and Nightfall (Royal Potato Family), recorded with his trio involving bassist Reed Mathis and drummer Andrew Barr, still shows signs of Mehldau's influence but benefits greatly from the engineering expertise of Bryce Goggin (Akron/Family, Pavement) as well as that of Mell Dettmer (Sunn O))), Eyvind Kang), Jesse Lauter (Low Anthem) and Vid Cousins (Amon Tobin, Kid Koala) who cleverly conspire to add sonic depth to each track without forsaking focus.
It should be interesting to see how Benevento uses his 61-key Wurlitzer and grab bag of gizmos in real time with his ripping rhythm section tonight (Sunday, October 17) at the El Mocambo to render what he's wrought in post-production. Don't miss Elizabeth Shepherd who kicks off the evening at 8 pm.


Friends and Greenpoint by the Marco Benevento Trio



LINKS
myspace http://www.myspace.com/marco.benevento