JFJO

New Solo Piano and Remix tracks Now Available

jfjo — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:07:40 +0000

Starting on February 19, 2012 Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey began releasing a special series of A & B sides. These lo-fi unmastered tracks capture a raw, distilled, and reconstructed version of The Race Riot Suite material.

The A Side consists of a short & condensed solo piano version of a song from The Race Riot Suite as interpreted by Brian Haas. The B Side has a remixed version of the A Side as produced by The Race Riot Suite producer, Costa Stasinopoulos.

This video previews the first A/B Side release, Cover Up:

Cover Up is now available to stream via SoundCloud, as well as available as mp3 download in exchange for your email address. All other A/B side releases will be available for purchase direct from JFJO.COM for .99 cents for the A/B pair. Or, get all 14 tracks for just $4.99:

Get all 7 A/B side releases for $4.99

The Race Riot Suite #1 Jazz Album of 2011

jfjo — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:52:36 +0000

Nippertown has named The Race Riot Suite the #1 jazz album of the year!!

…and the Number One Jazz CD of 2011:

1. Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey’s “Race Riot Suite” (Royal Potato Family)
An African-American community in Tulsa was basically wiped out over two days in 1921, and then the riots were promptly wiped from state history books. JFJO slide guitarist Chris Combs’ epic suite harnesses every emotion that could come from such a horrific act. Jacob Fred’s unique neo-fusion gets more muscle from a heavyweight horn section featuring Jeff Coffin and Steve Bernstein. A required “history listen.”

The Race Riot Suite – New York City Jazz Record: Best of 2011

jfjo — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:35:47 +0000

We are honored to have The Race Riot Suite listed as one of the Best Large Ensemble jazz releases of 2011 by The New York City Jazz Record! Pick up your copy of the January 2012 issue now to see who else made the list:

http://www.nycjazzrecord.com/

JFJO an Urban Tulsa Weekly Hot 100

jfjo — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:32:29 +0000

Thanks to Urban Tulsa Weekly for listing Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey as part of their Hot 100 of 2011:

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Band

JFJO may be touring internationally and garnering praise worldwide, but the ensemble returned home to Tulsa — both literally and figuratively — for The Race Riot Suite. Recorded at The Church Studios, it tells the story of Tulsa’s 1921 race riot and is one of the most moving releases of 2011, regardless of genre.

Video of JFJO playing at WNCW

jfjo — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:05:39 +0000

In November 2011 we played a live on-air session in the studio at WNCW in North Carolina:

O’s Place review of The Race Riot Suite: 4/4

jfjo — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:16:58 +0000

O’S PLACE JAZZ

DECEMBER 2011

http://www.OsPlaceJazz.com

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey - Race Riot Suite 4/4

O’s Notes: The early 1900s in Tulsa Oklahoma were a dark period that is seldom discussed in mainstream US history books. During this time there was a community of prominent African Americans who lived collectively on one side of town. Their success lead to the community being labeled Black Wall Street. It was destroyed in the race riots that ensued after an alleged rape of a white woman by one of the Blacks in the community. It was a dark period that is captured by Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey in a musical rendition that takes us through all of the associated emotions. Chris Combs (g) wrote, arranged and produced the session, a significant work in many respects.

Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine review of The Race Riot Suite

jfjo — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:15:48 +0000

BIG CITY RHYTHM & BLUES Magazine

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2011

For its 21st project, the JFJO tells the horrific saga of the 1921 Tulsa, Oklahoma race riots that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of black Tulsans, permanently altered the area’s landscape, and nearly wiped out the nation’s most thriving black community.

The core Odyssey quartet of pianist Brian Haas, lap steel guitarist Chris Combs, upright bassist Jeff Harshbarger and drummer Josh Raymer, vibrantly assisted by first-call horn players like Jeff Coffin and Peter Apfelbaum, offer music that is at times nostalgic, aureate and anguished–yet ultimately a joyful celebration of the Greenwood citizens and their unflinching resiliency. The baroque suite moves and oscillates with both beauty and violence, particularly on arresting sections such as “Black Wall Street,” “Lost in the Battle for Greenwood,” “Grandfather’s Gun” and “Eye of the Dove.” Shades of Charlie Mingus or Max Roach.

Tulsa World: ‘Race Riot Suite’ Carnegie Hall-worthy

jfjo — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 15:33:36 +0000

Tulsa World: ‘Race Riot Suite’ Carnegie Hall-worthy

By WASHINGTON I. RUCKER

Published: 10/21/2011 2:23 AM Last Modified: 10/21/2011 4:38 AM

As a Tulsa native, I have some comments on the group Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey.

The group appeared at a local club here in Los Angeles recently and I was in for a major surprise.

After reading about the group in the L.A. Times, I took notice of their ambitious venture into something more than just jazz, “The Race Riot Suite.” It was a sociological undertaking of great magnitude, one that is seldom spoken of anywhere.

As a native Tulsan and a jazz musician, my interests were two-fold: One, the group took on one of the most infamous events in American history and performed this horrific event in a jazz format. Two, my concern that, in addition, the musicians were much too young to understand the significance of this 1921 nightmare.

I, along with a small group of north Tulsans I know, arrived at this club that normally I would not frequent. We were interested in what was being done, how and by whom. All of us had a personal interest in the article and the group.

From the opening blaring note, which nearly knocked me down, I sat stunned by the music, the performance and the musicians themselves.

This was the most exciting and remarkable concert I have ever had the pleasure of seeing, hearing or performing in.

Click Here to read more from this Tulsa World article

Boston Globe: Painful history, beautiful music

jfjo — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 15:26:04 +0000

JACOB FRED JAZZ ODYSSEY

SAN FRANCISCO – Tulsa’s native sons are on the road, telling a dark and painful story about a long-suppressed chapter of Oklahoma’s history.

At a performance two weeks ago at the Bay Area’s premiere funk venue, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey settled into a rollicking locomotive groove evoking the territory dance bands that crisscrossed the Southwest during Prohibition. But when the group lurched suddenly into “The Burning,’’ the second movement in its extraordinary, evening-length “Race Riot Suite,’’ the wailing horns seemed to tear away the familiar, zany images of Lindy Hoppers, revealing the horrific, unpunished violence that reduced the nation’s wealthiest African-American community to ashes.

In the midst of an extensive US tour that brings the band to the Boston area tonight for the first in a series of gigs at the Lily Pad, the quartet is focusing on music from its new album “Race Riot Suite,’’ which was inspired by the 1921 pogrom that destroyed Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood, the Negro Wall Street. Though the riot killed dozens and destroyed some 35 city blocks, leaving the city’s 10,000 black residents homeless, it was largely covered up and left out of historical accounts until the state issued a formal report in 2001.

“I grew up in Tulsa and the first I heard about it was in high school, but there wasn’t a lot of information available,’’ said Jacob Fred steel guitarist Chris Combs, the suite’s composer, over a meal with the band after the soundcheck. “I didn’t realize it was the worst race riot in the country and that it was unique in so many ways. The information is out there now, but it’s surprising how hard you had to look to find it.’’

Jacob Fred roared out of Tulsa in the mid-1990s and built up an avid national following through incessant touring and a savvy balance of sonically expansive improvisation and inviting grooves. The name is the product of an absurdist sense of humor and doesn’t refer to anyone who’s played in the band, but the moniker stuck. After more than a decade as a trio, the group expanded to a quartet, and the latest incarnation features Kansas City, Mo., bassist Jeff Harshbarger, Tulsa drummer Josh Raymer, and pianist Brian Haas, the only original member left.

Click here to read the rest of the article on Boston.com

San Diego Reader: Inspired Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey at the Loft — This Ain’t Your Daddy’s Jazz

jfjo — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:30:24 +0000

Inspired Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey at the Loft — This Ain’t Your Daddy’s Jazz

By Alfred Howard | Published Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2011

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, a quartet from Tulsa, Oklahoma, brought their unique brand of open-minded musicianship to the Loft at UCSD. Touring in support ofRace Riot Suite, the quartet added a five-piece horn section, including Peter Apfelbaum and Mark Southerland. One of the facets giving JFJO a unique tone in the jazz world is lap-steel player Chris Combs. An unusual instrument to be featured in a jazz quartet, it calls to mind melodies of Americana as well as the slow brooding crescendos of Pink Floyd. Chris Combs composed Race Riot Suitein homage to the Tulsa race riot of 1921. The music excels in emotional depth and dynamic, the cacophony of struggle, the swagger of pride, with a brimming turmoil to an all-out explosion of catastrophe….

Click Here to read the rest of the piece on the San Diego Reader website