There is a community of music that thrives across the pond, despite very little mention of it over here. This style encompasses a variety of genres, amalgamated under the term jamband.

Jamband, as a term and style of music, means as much as the term indie - any number of diverse genres can be crumpled together through of lazy journalism or desire for cohesiveness. As with the term ‘indie’, defining ‘jamband’ is difficult.

Historically, it refers to bands that experiment outside the realm of traditional verses and choruses, usually leading to extended songs and experimentation. But the term, led by the successes for two stalwarts of the genre, Phish and the Grateful Dead, remains virtually unknown in the UK.

The most famous domestic jamband, if they were to be defined as such, would be Ozric Tentacles, and to their credit they produce a sound more akin to psychedelic rock of the mid 1970s. But every now and again, a band that enjoys a considerable amount of success within the jamband world does tour overseas, usually in more intimate venues than normal and free of the weight the tag appropriates on them. One such band is in London this month as a jazz quartet, not a jamband. They are Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey.
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, or JFJO as they are known in America, are one of those acts that got lumped in with a community that musically they shared little with, mostly due to sharing festival stages and touring routes with other so-called jambands.

Instead, JFJO is a jazz band, but a uniquely complex and eccentric one. They blend contemporary jazz with elements of post rock, ethereal noise, free jazz and folk, creating an instrumental amalgam of sorts that spreads itself across the musical spectrum. JFJO are more a collective than a band in some respects. In their sixteen year history, they have gone through over twenty members, switching from a trio to a quartet frequently, depending on the project being pursued at that given time. Founder and principle songwriter Brian Haas elaborates: “JFJO just changes constantly. Always has. We just try to keep up with the music and what the music wants us to do. The band’s line-up has always changed as well, which keeps me and everyone on their toes. JFJO has had almost 20 members in our 16 year history, I believe.”

The band is coming to London to debut their brand new recording, a six-track experimentation titled One Day in Brooklyn. While the band continues to base themselves in Oklahoma, they decided to de-camp to a studio in Williamsburg to record a new of songs, live, in one full day. “We were in the middle of a long tour,” explains Haas. “We just had that one day off and we felt the need to document our new quartet line up, which was debuting on the tour. Recording in a great setting like Williamsburg is fun and easy, so there were no real challenges. We actually did everything on first and second takes, as far as I remember.” Relaxed, laid-back and organized from the onset, One Day in Brooklyn showcases the pure musicianship of the quartet, while highlighting how clever JFJO have become at manipulating jazz and taking it out of its comfort zone. And, as Haas explains, while the record was recorded in Brooklyn, its roots lie at home, in the Oklahoma flats.

“The old and new Tulsa Sound continues to impact us,” adds Haas. “We are very influenced by the vibrant Tulsa music scene and One Day in Brooklyn draws heavily upon our country roots. Another inherent theme is our reliance upon improvisation. We went into the studio ready to play the 6 songs as we had been playing them on the road. There was no other plan, aside from that. And this is the first JFJO record that my mom really loves. That feels good.”

Aside from One Day in Brooklyn, JFJO is releasing another album in June, in addition to re-scoring a few classical pieces to perform in Oklahoma, which Haas claims is as challenging as anything he has ever done, including performing live for two hours without any pre-conceived song structures. “We are playing and recording Beethoven’s Third and Sixth Symphonies with a 44 piece orchestra in June at a music festival in Oklahoma,” continues Haas. “When we get home it is time to go into the rehearsal space. It is an arrangement and orchestration done by a Doctoral student at Kings College in London, Noam Faingold with a lot of our input of course. In April, we release a 7-inch single with a remix to hype our new album, Stay Gold. Then, in June we release Stay Gold as LP and CD and start touring the states to promote it. We go back to Europe in July again.”

JFJO will hit the Vortex this month - expect a fair bit of improvisation and tracks, or versions of them, off both One Day in Brooklyn and the new LP. “Definitely expect a lot of new compositions and improvisations in London,” affirms Haas. “I hope we are helping to evolve the jazz language, and playing live is what keeps us going.”

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey’s show at The Vortex on 1 April has been postponed. New dates are expected in July.