By: Joe Lang
I’m pretty sure Dave King invented at least three or four new styles of music last Thursday night. His quartet F.K.G., along with sax man Scott Fultz, guitarist Dean Granros, and bassist Adam Linz, played… something. While I absolutely love King’s playing with The Bad Plus and Bill Carrothers, this wasn’t the first time I’d been a little caught off guard by a King project. Illya Ratner caught my sentiment quite well when we went to go see King’s newest band The Gang Font Featuring Interloper: “All I know is I am confused.”
According to the band’s old bio, “We formed in 1995 over common interest in 20th century composition, delta blues and disdain for neo-traditionalist jazz.” After seeing F.K.G., their disdain for neo-traditionalist jazz is quite apparent. Throughout the first set, the band whirled through strange dissonant Monk-ish romps, what I could only describe as “grunge jazz,” with Granros employing slide guitar, 4/4 muddy pulses with pinch harmonics. Overall I was really impressed by tones Granros was able to get out of a little Roland Micro Cube. I really didn’t think you could get any half-decent tones out of that thing, but Granros was able to get some nice reverb-soaked tones and dirty juke joint squeals. Later on, the only way I can describe what happened as John Lee Hooker in a quasi funk stomp avant blues. Think the Doors, Maceo Parker, Ornette Coleman and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre thrown into a blender and put on the bandstand. And then when they took it down, the sound was like a ballad on baby Hawaiian wood rose seeds and absinthe. Then Dave hit a solo, and the band went into a junkyard dirge before playing a song that I could only imagine as what would happen if robots started a jazz band, with a heavy Yardbirds rave-up influence, or the soundtrack to the next Don Hertzfeldt movie. Insanity. Thrash jazz.
After a set break, the band came back up and started to groove a lot more. Perfectly and minimally, King manned the kit like Tony Williams on some of the soft and laid back early fusion Miles sessions. Granros’s tone was much warmer and less abrasive and took on a more textural role, and Scott Fultz played more solos. In the first set, Fultz usually chimed in during the head or for a short solo, and then sat down as the chaotic excursions ensued. With everyone else grooving a lot more, Fultz soloed a lot more.
From what I could tell, F.K.G. is a bit like Jeckyll and Hyde. On one hand they can lay back and groove; on the other, they can take it wayyyyy out. If you can dig the outbound excursions of King and cohorts in bands like Happy Apple, Fat Kid Wednesdays, The Gang Font Featuring Interloper and The Starry Eyed Lovelies, then F.K.G. will not fail to satisfy. But if you are looking for a straight-ahead quartet going through real book standards, look elsewhere.
Location Info:
Artists' Quarter
Artist Info: F.K.G.
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