What Happened To The Foot
(1224 Project)
There are many dedicated bands making jazz round the country in 2011 and here’s just one example that you might not otherwise hear about, given that the band isn’t on a label and the players are doing everything themselves.
The 1224 Project is guitarist Dylan Kay, electric bassist Leslee Booth and drummer David Bouet. Kay is a former Berklee student, Booth once played bass for Billy Eckstine and Bouet started out with a Parisian funk band. They take their name – it’s twelve twenty four – from the number on a door in New Orleans that was also emblazoned with the words: “Happy Jazz”.
Sounds like a good place from which to take inspiration.
They play a little outside the current UK trend but only a little. The rock influences are there, especially when Kay kicks the distortion pedal, but generally this is a gentler fusion than that produced by punkier bands of the moment like Led Bib and Trio VD.
The mood is funkier and more laid back, with some slide guitar adding a country tinge. Kay cites John Scofield, Bill Frisell and Wayne Krantz as influences. There is a nice lot of space in the music, and it’s all original stuff apart from a cover of Nirvana’s Come As You Are (played, nicely, in 5/4 time).
You can find more on the band’s website, where you can buy the album and check where they are playing live (mostly the London area): www.1224project.co.uk
Categories: CD review
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