Cobblestone Jazz delivers thought provoking music


I listen to a lot of music and am always searching for something new. This search has recently led me to electronic music. Cobblestone Jazz, a trio of electronic musicians with traditional music education, improvises their music from machines both in the studio and live. With the release of their album 23 Seconds they have been in constant demand overseas, but recently found time to do a series of dates in the states. Late Saturday night they took the stage at Nectar.

Slowly building their sound up they tweaked at mixing boards, stared at computer screens, banged on drum machines and one member plays the fender Rhodes while adding vocals processed through a vocorder.

For me I enjoy the build up in their style of electronic music. It doesn’t just start out fast and up tempo, it climbs up the BPM ladder slowly, all the while they are quick to let the song breath introducing new elements and bringing in the spacey house feel.

As the music grows you can see the guys in Cobblestone Jazz getting more and more excited. They like to say that they build off each other’s playing and watching them perform you can see what they mean. As you see one go off on a tangent the others will sit back, digest the move and then come back in with the perfect retort.

It is with this theme running throughout the night that Cobblestone Jazz performed until last call always building and developing new sounds just for your enjoyment. Whether you were dancing to the grooves, listening to every little nuance of sound, or just vibeing out with your friends Cobblestone Jazz had everyone’s attention with their progressive electronic arrangements.

Cobblestone Jazz "23 Seconds"

---
Originally posted here on February 28th 2008

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Curren$y & Wiz Khalifa "How Fly" Review

Image
Two of Hip Hop’s best kept secrets found each other, seemingly through a thick haze of weed smoke – stoners do tend to unite. While Curren$y did enjoy a brief moment of semi fame rolling with Lil' Wayne, he left for potentially greener pastures (addressed splendidly on “S.D.L”) and has been steadily on his grind with the Fly Society behind him. Wiz Khalifa on the other hand has been making a name for himself on both the blog scene and the tour circuit, although he hasn’t made it out to the North West yet. His hustle never did seem appreciated by Warner Brothers who saw a star years ago when they signed him, but sit on the shelf he did until finally gaining his freedom just over 2 weeks ago. Independent is the way to roll and these two obviously share more in common than a fetish for the greenery, fresh kicks, and designer labels. The album gives you much of what you would expect and some of what you might not have. The beats are rocking almost all the way through, some however le
Read more

An Interview With... Carlos Niño

Image
My sonic journey has taken me through many sounds, styles, artists, and scenes. Preparing for this interview was cause to reflect on when I first heard the name Carlos Niño , and I think I can pinpoint it near the beginning of the LA beat era . Since that time his name has floated in and out of my ears depending on how tuned in I was. In more recent times his name has been near the top of my most listened to and cherished artists. These connections, these diverse and non linear weavings of activity are part of what make Carlos Niño’s music so inspired to my ears. He seems to just get it. He makes uplifting, soulful, joyous, energetic music - even when it’s calm and ethereal. As I’ve traveled a new path in my life over the last nearly five years, cultivating and developing spiritual and meditative practices to enhance and enlarge my essence, music has been intrinsically connected. As a doorway into the cosmos, a guide towards something greater, a companion through the dark and light mo
Read more

Supersonic Rainbow Fiend

Image
As I was contemplating this piece, sitting with the three albums being inspected, I was struck with a lot of thoughts around my journey to Jazz. Recently I mentioned my first hearing Kind of Blue and my inability to grasp the beauty of it at the time. I was a high schooler who was consumed with rap just beginning to step away from the stars of the era and digging into an underground that was vibrant and diverse. I had more digesting to do. This is a repeated pattern throughout my sonic history. I find some music that strikes a chord and I dig in. The napster fueled download era was a dream. Then came the blog era which also rewarded this kind of deep dive. I was trapped in a purgatory of my own making as streaming took rise and was fairly tuned out from anything that wasn’t equally dark and hopeless. As I emerged from that darkness and began hearing names I hadn’t heard of before, exploring this world of modern Jazz became the new quest. Initially it seemed too vast, too much. But I
Read more