Upcoming Gigs

Wow.

...

Okay, so one of the great things about my job is the chance to see some truly awesome jazz groups, and more often than not for free. However, without wanting to sound ungrateful I do occasionally get itchy for something else, and in the last year I've only been to a handful of non-jazz gigs. I listen to pretty much anything I can get my ears around (with a few notable exceptions - I'll not be adding any Coldplay to my playlist anytime soon. Sorry Joe.) and this week I topped up my long-depleted reserves of hip-hop with a personally financed trip to Cargo to see the Youngblood Brass Band.

Why is a hip-hop group getting a blog on a jazz website? Well, Youngblood are hardly your average crew. Their nine members took over the club on Tuesday night with a full-on onslaught of live music. Made up of a six piece horn section (including a sousaphone taking the bass duties - simply an amazing sound) and a three piece deconstructed drum-kit percussion section of cymbals, bass drum and snare all played separately, with the guy on snare drum doubling on the mic and offering up some impressive rhymes as well as rhythms, Youngblood take the energy and pure pumped-up bravado of party hip-hop and churn it out through the unstoppable machine of a New Orleans style marching band.

Opening their set with a short rendition of M.O.P.'s 'Ante Up', they stormed through over an hour's worth of material that ranged from sweet and low-down funky jazz breaks to rapid-fire MCing accompanied by stomping riffs that had everyone in the place throwing their hands in the air and waving them like they actually cared an awful lot ('Gangsta's Paradise' on horns? You damn right!). Closing with a straight-up New Orleans march which had half the crowd jitterbugging like it was 1920 all over again, the entire night was filled with musical virtuosity, especially from the alto sax player who took a number of stunning solos - although he had to contend with two trombones and two trumpets who were all rock solid and just as ambitious with their time in the spotlight.

I came away from this unable to decide whether I'd just seen a jazz gig or a hip-hop one, but I didn't care. With so many bands blurring the genre lines between jazz and something else, it was refreshing to see another direction being taken so competently and with such passion. Anyone who thinks a trumpet should only be heard in a B flat blues format from somewhere back in the '50s is not going to like Youngblood. But for everyone who thinks that jazz can be played through other genres and enjoyed regardless of what context it's placed in, they're well worth checking out on record and are a must see live band.

Like I said, wow. Youngblood rule.