Skerik's Syncopated Taint Septet

Rate It! Avg: 5.0 (17 ratings)
  • Years Active: 2000s

Albums

Biography Wikipedia

Wikipedia:

Skerik's Syncopated Taint Septet (also known as SST7) is a jazz ensemble formed in Seattle, Washington in 2002.

Music

Although uniquely merging jazz and funk, the music of Skerik's Syncopated Taint Septet can also include "New Orleans flavors", solid grooves, swing and hip-hop combined into something both appealing and undefinable. Their music has been self-described by Skerik as "...punk-jazz. Maybe a punk-jazz version of the Thelonious Monk Octet." A theme in the music is a recognition that traditional jazz having reached a zenith in the early 1960s cannot be contained in reverence. The Syncopated Taint Septet is a synthesis of traditional music with current and experimental music forms. The project displays a band member equality with "leads being shared by everyone."

History

Their first album Skerik's Syncopated Taint Septet recorded live at the Owl and Thistle in Seattle and was released in 2003. It was reviewed as occasionally loud, yet also having a "spirited [and] immediate musicianship." Although popularly associated with jam band music an improvisational distinction can be made regarding the large musical vocabulary displayed by the band in the recording.

The second album Husky was released in 2006. It was recorded in the studio by S. Husky Höskulds all in one day and often in one take. The album was reviewed for its strengths in "ensemble writing and musical structure." The five-horn arrangements are written mostly by Hans Teuber and Steve Moore. On the album there are suggestions of Thelonious Monk in its solos and Ornette Coleman in its melodies, yet there is also a hip-hop rhythmic sensibility. Husky has been reviewed as the best jazz album of 2006.

Members

Skerik - tenor and baritone saxophone Dave Carter - trumpet Hans Teuber - alto saxophone and flute Steve Moore - trombone and Wurlitzer electric piano Craig Flory - baritone saxophone and clarinetJoe Doria - Hammond OrganJohn Wicks - drums