FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.


Elements of style
Hot, young jazz players combine for a (un)swingin' sound

Metalwood
Monday, April 28
at the Big Secret Theatre

Jazz bands can be as difficult to keep together as a Hollywood marriage. But Chris Tarry, bass player of the new groove-oriented Metalwood, says this time it's different. Metalwood is anything but another one-off project with clock-punching, watch-checking session players.

"We love to hang around each other playing road hockey, playing music. It feels like I'm in high school again - but I get to play with some of the best musicians in the country."

It's hard to disagree. Metalwood is like the honors class for young, innovative jazz players: Mike Murley on the saxophone, Brad Turner playing trumpet and keyboards, drummer Ian Froman, and Tarry on the bass. And although Froman lives in New York and Murley has to fly from Toronto to meet the other two Vancouver players, they still consider themselves a (non-swing) band - in full swing.

"It's really the same as being in one city when we play, because it's just like getting one round-trip ticket each," Tarry says.

After meeting in Vancouver to discuss the possibility of playing together, they made a record just two days later. And the sound they were reaching for is the sound they got: playful, groovy, sophisticated. Not acid jazz, but definitely not just jazz.

"We had to make a conscious effort not to play any swing on this record, it would've gone against the concept. Maybe it was a little more artistic than we anticipated, but we saw a hole to fill, put together a band, and it's already grown beyond our wildest dreams."

It was also a conscious effort, says Tarry, to take Metalwood away from the jazz clubs and into alternative venues and campus clubs. Stages that will appeal to other audiences that might appreciate groove-jazz a little more. The group comes to Calgary's Big Secret Theatre this Monday.

"It's just really unique to find four guys willing to put this much effort into something. It's not about the cash. It's about the music... and all the hockey games," Tarry laughs.

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