Had this one circled on the calendar. Sexmob is a 30 year old collaboration of downtown musicians. Led by slide trumpeter Steven Bernstein, Briggan Krauss on sax, Tony Scherr on standup bass, and Kenny Wollesen on drums. The premise is simple, take the widest possible swing at popular music, deconstruct, re-assemble, and let your audience guess. This band has spent time mining the work of Nino Rota, James Bond scores, Grateful Dead, Bill Withers, and everything in between. Packed house for the second set finds Bernstein in a chatty mode. Hard to believe this group had never graced the Firehouse stage before this evening, though most members have played here as part of other groups. The set starts with the Ellington composition Black and Tan Fantasy, next up a Nino Rota film score piece with some amazing bass work from Scherr. An original inspired by the trombone master Roswell Rudd showcases the slide trumpet. Imagine if a trumpet and trombone had a baby, the result is the unique slide trumpet. Bernstein has said his instrument “frees him from the constraints of sounding like other people”. The group oozes downtown cool, Steven with a clean shaven head and both ears pierced looks like an impish Mr. Clean. In the 90s, Bernstein did time with John Laurie’s Lounge Lizards ( from which this blog takes its name). Steven has cobbled together quite a life in music, arranging for a dream team of jazz musicians for the Robert Altman film Kansas City, backing Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed, and my favorite as musical director for the Ramble series (music events at Levon Helm’s barn in the Catskills). I urge readers to check the Wiki on the vast scope of artists who have employed and collaborated with him. He fumbles around with some charts before settling on a world premiere, someone in the crowd yells “what is it?”. “You’ll get it”, replies Steve. Turns out to be a Liza Minnelli chestnut from way back. Closed the set with the Jager-soaked bass and slide trumpet duet Ripple by the Grateful Dead. This group bridges the familiar and challenging with the greatest of ease.
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