Preview
F.U.J.A.
Saturday, September 13
C-jazz Festival
Olympic Plaza
For keyboardist Kristian Alexandrov and vocalist Shannon Gaye, it all comes down to chemistry. At least, that’s what initially brought them back to Calgary.
After an extended stint in Toronto, they’re ready to unleash their latest brainchild, F.U.J.A., on Calgary audiences. It all started with regular stints at Cannery Row with drummer Andy Ericson and bassist Ben Harries. Playing a mixed bag of jazz, funk, fusion and R & B, the group became a mainstay on the Calgary scene, packing the tiny bar with audiences hungry for hot music. In 1999, Alexandrov released his debut CD, Funked Up Jazz, which acted as the inspiration for the jazz funk project that was to become F.U.J.A., Funked Up Jazz Ambassadors.
The impetus for the group is their common desire to explore the whole genre of jazz with a heavy dose of funk and R&B. According to group leader Alexandrov, F.U.J.A. combines the freedom of improvisation with the progressive sounds of fusion.
"I’d call us instrumental jazz funk," he says. "The jazz element is, of course, the improvisation and the freedom with that. But most importantly, everything is groove-based… a lot of funk and Afro-Cuban rhythms."
From its birth in the mid-’60s, jazz-funk has been the driving force behind the jazz genre’s continuing, if tenuous, accessibility. The proto-funk innovations of Sly and the Family Stone, as well as the work of early jazz funk artists like Charles Earland, Reuben Wilson and Jack McDuff, injected a danceable, funky groove into the traditions of bebop. Not content to lay back in the groove, jazz funk drove the jazz genre forward many times, aligning itself with fusion and hard bop. The sounds of Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis and Lonnie Liston Smith are not far off from F.U.J.A., which takes inspiration from a variety of sources in the jazz, funk and fusion realm. "Groove-driven" is mentioned enough times in talking with both Gaye and Alexandrov that it seems to be an implicitly understood objective for the members of the band.
"We want to energize people," says Gaye. "Jazz isn’t strictly cerebral. Yes, there are advanced changes, advanced melodies, but it doesn’t have to be unenergetic. The groove is crucial to us. We want to put the sex back into jazz because there was a time when it was really sexy music. We all get really turned on by it all."
Joined by guitarist Russell Broom and Edmonton trumpeter Bob Tildesley, F.U.J.A.’s show at the C-jazz festival is their debut performance in Calgary and they will head to the studio to record their first album in November. As Alexandrov states, when getting a project such as F.U.J.A going, it’s a matter of having an open mind.
"The music always tells you what to do if you’re willing to listen," says Alexandrov. "I think in many ways jazz has gotten too obscure for normal people. I definitely don’t want to compromise the music, but I don’t want to lose the audience either. We play so much better when there are people in the room. I need to feed from the energy of the people." |
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