Star rating **** Jacob Fred doesn't appear with the band that bears his name. Or, rather, he does. A moniker, indeed, a handle that goes back to the days of CB radio, Jacob Fred is what pianist Brian Haas called himself at high school in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
If it sounds like the sort of name that accompanies the words "music by " on animated film credits, that's not inappropriate since Haas, bass guitarist Reed Mathis and drummer Josh Raymer seem to be responding to a movie that only they can see and that they're seeing for the first time. As instant orchestration goes, it's a fascinating process involving gobsmacking levels of skill and energy and apparent telepathy, but also an unashamedly melodic content that doesn't necessarily follow with spontaneous music-making.
At times the music sounds vaguely familiar - and the trio has explored music by Charles Mingus, Neil Young, Brian Wilson and Dave Brubeck in the past. But just as a title from, say, Burt Bacharach or the Beatles suggests itself, the ghostly apparition is whisked away into something closer to a manic salsa, a samba with a limp, a Chopinesque flurry or hell-for-leather grooving with Mathis's bass howling like a hungry coyote and Haas finding more notes - and logical ones at that - than really should be possible.
Haas's integration of a melodica into a repertoire that did definitely, if briefly, include Jimi Hendrix's Third Stone from The Sun adds further intrigue, romance and gospel-soul elements. And, like the best gospel and soul music, it's invigorating stuff, as well as exultant and reflective, for which Jazz Odyssey offers but an understatement. Let's hope Fred calls again, soon.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article