Mr. Durkin looks pretty hip in the above-mentioned photo, surrounded by people wearing flannel, Birkenstocks, and skirts one usually finds only in shops that sell products made of hemp.  He’s currently the leader of a band called The Industrial Jazz Group, whose name, along with the title of their debut disc, Hardcore, might lead you to believe you’re in for something clamorous, loud, and atonal.  You’d be wrong in that assumption.  After listening to Hardcore for a couple of weeks I’d like to chase down a disc by the Evelyn Situation, jam band or not.

The promo sheet for the Industrial Jazz Group lists a dizzying variety of influences, including Frank Zappa, Bob Graettinger (an innovative composer championed by Stan Kenton), and Raymond Scott (a pioneer in electronic music who also composed music for film and cartoons).  One influence they cite who has the most profound impact is Charles Mingus, particularly on songs like “Valley of the Smokes” and “Man in the Godzilla Suit.”  It’s easy to hear references to other musicians, as well, but this disc isn’t just a series of knowing musical references; Durkin and his cohorts create something unique while embracing a lot of music that they obviously have great affection for.

Durkin is joined by Evan Francis (flute/alto sax), Mike Dodge (clarinet/tenor sax), Aaron Kohen (bass), and Drew Hemwall (drums).  All five musicians have a wide variety of playing experiences, from show bands to film and video scoring.  They bring a lot of flexibility and, more important, humor to the fifteen tunes on Hardcore.   I can hear an occasional Zappa influence here and there, e.g., the vibes on “What is Music For,” but the quality the band seems to have absorbed most from him is his playfulness.  There’s plenty of musical whimsy here to balance against the complexity of the compositions.  Durkin likes to challenge us with some dissonance or unusual time signatures, but he give us time to catch our breath by introducing a light, humorous element here and there.

“Daphne’s Dream City” opens the disc on what at first seems an undemanding note compared to some of the other tracks.  After a few listens, I revised that opinion somewhat as I caught the beautiful harmonies of Francis on flute and Dodge on tenor against the varying textures of Durkin’s playing.  He opens with a series of open melodic statements before shifting between short bursts of chords and a more percussive attack in support of solos by Dodge and Francis.  As the flute solo builds, Durkin and Dodge harmonize behind it before dropping out for a short bass solo that leads into the close.  “Daphne’s Dream City,” like the rest of the selection on the disc, has plenty of room for improvisation while at the same time being very carefully arranged. 

The rest of the disc does require more careful listening.  “Valley of the Smokes,” for instance, nods toward Mingus before veering off into a free jazz section held together by subtle changes in rhythm from drummer Drew Hemwall.  An aggressive, grainy bowed solo on the bass gives way to a restatement of the opening. “The Man in the Godzilla Suit” begins with flute and piano stating a bouncy melody that leads to a discordant section that brings in the rest of the band, Mike Dodge on clarinet this time.  The remainder of the song contrasts the pleasantness of the opening with a searching out of the harmonic possibilities of fracturing and restructuring it.

Durkin has absorbed the ideas of composers like John Zorn and, again, Zappa.  He injects sound effects, snatches of conversation, tape manipulation, and other non-musical elements into his tunes without making you feel there’s an academic, post-modern cynicism behind it.  On “Fantasy on Cozy,” for instance, Durkin and Aaron Kohen play a melody on piano and bass and then it is restated on a tape played backwards.  That’s a trick that can wear thin quickly and Durkin doesn’t allow it to go on longer than it needs to. Because of the track’s brevity and the contrast between the staid opening and the sheer goofiness of the tape manipulation, it serves as an interlude, a quick aside.

One of the great things about Durkin as a composer is that he gives you something melodic to hang on to even when he’s at his most experimental.  It may be that he benefits from our familiarity with avant-garde approaches to music, which make the occasional difficult passages in the disc seem less forbidding.  It also helps that Durkin brings a light touch to those passages.  He’s a humanist whose occasional disorentations have more in common with Ornette Coleman’s generosity of spirit than with John Zorn’s anger.

Except for a couple of tentative moments during some of the solos, the performances are on a consistently high level.  Drummer Drew Hemwall is particularly noteworthy.  He plays with great feeling and negotiates difficult changes, e.g., in  “Plus or Minus Eleven,” with ease.  I wish Durkin had given himself more solos, especially considering his skills as accompanist.  His solo on “Plus or Minus Eleven” merely whets the appetite.  Considering what must have been a small budget, the disc has a lively, open sound, although it’s a little dry.  The drums and bass drop back a bit in a few busier portions of the disc, but, again, this is an independent production.

In his book Bebop and Nothingness, jazz critic Francis Davis laments the neoconservative tendency of current jazz players to focus on bop and hard bop to the exclusion of other kinds of jazz.  To the extent that it makes the music seem stodgy, he may be right, although I think the stuffiness can be attributed to the overtraining of musicians and to sterile recording techniques.  There are signs of life, however.  Medeski, Martin, and Wood and Charlie Hunter seem to moving jazz into new areas.  The Industrial Jazz Group doesn’t sound anything like those two, but it does share with them a willingness to incorporate other musical strains and to try something new.  It’s too early to predict what might happen to Durkin, but a musician of his talent should have a long and distinguished career. 

Click here to find out more about The Industrial Jazz Group and to order a CD: http://www.uglyrug.com/industry.htm