Jazz breaking news: Thundercat takes jazz-fusion back to the future
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
If evidence were needed that Stephen Bruner, aka Thundercat, has made the art of Stanley Clarke-style electric bass shredding fashionable again then surely the 600 or so fans who turned up to greet him at Hoxton’s hip warehouse venue Village Underground last Sunday provided it in abundance.
Yet this is the paradox of Bruner’s recent rise from niche-noodler to a hot name on the lips of non-jazz fans, or at least those who wouldn’t admit to owning a few Return To Forever albums. Indeed many first encountered Bruner via his affiliation with much-fêted maverick experimental producer Flying Lotus, who showcased the young bassist’s explosive chops on his 2010 electronica space opera Cosmogramma – while tastemaker DJ Gilles Peterson (an avid Flylo supporter) has also played a part in building Bruner’s UK profile.
It’s arguable too that Bruner’s harmonically layered sound is not a million miles from early Earth, Wind and Fire, George Duke and Parliament Funkadelic and that this hard-rocking fusion malarkey has all been done before. But his soft yet affecting vocals are also a big part of his creative equation as are his lackadaisical tales of mischief and heartbreak that flesh out his likeable and charismatic stage presence. It also notable that the bassist has served stage time with soul diva Erykah Badu and skate-punk thrashers Suicidal Tendencies, enhancing his ability to shift between scorching soloist, sensitive chordal accompanist or B-line groove maestro. Indeed his bass is an over-sized arch-top Ibanez jazz guitar not unlike the one George Benson uses.
Joined by keyboardist Dennis Hamm and drummer Justin Brown this was ostensibly a power trio: Hamm given plenty of room to stretch out on some engaging solos, crunching through the gears on a pleasingly distorted Fender Rhodes and bolstering things with some synth bass parts, while Brown proved he’s fully assimilated the more explosive side of Chris ‘Daddy’ Dave’s jazz-rock-into-hip hop hybrid approach with several crowd pleasing drum solos. But this was Bruner’s show and yet here the paradox again presents itself with his outwardly exuberant furry freak brother persona counterbalanced by his sensitive inner tales from the heart singing about endless relationship traumas, one new song aptly titled ‘Heartbreaks + Setbacks’, all delivered in his languid psychedelic soul vocals. His voice actually sounds better live than on record and if anything tonight was a reminder of the strength of his debut album, Golden Age of the Apocalypse, and its abundance of singable songs that include ‘Daylight’, which was greeted to the bassist’s amazement by perfect audience vocal accompaniment. The blazing acid-fried instrumental ‘Fleer Ultra’ was another highlight as all three bandmembers dug into its drum and bass beat and zigzagging melody around which all soloed with abandon.
These early flights were tempered by a few brief technical issues, Bruner pausing to mutter croakily, “I need to find my voice,” and with half his songs requiring some falsetto acrobatics over complex chord changes he’s not a man who makes life easy for himself. Thus the latter half of the set solidified into the pop-funk fusion of his latest album, Apocalypse, with its more tangible hooks and set-piece unison bass and keyboard licks.
It’s hard to know where all this will lead this fuzzily ambitious young gun next, yet his audience listened without prejudice and seem more than happy to follow him down whichever paradoxical rabbit hole he decides to dive into next.
– Mike Flynn