Who is Jacob Fred

And Why is He Turning Jazz Inside Out?

by Chris Johnson

The Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey plays at Cafe Paradiso in Fairfield, Iowa, on June 29, 2008.

To give credit where it is due, let’s all say thank you to Meret Amick for booking Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey (JFJO) at Cafe Paradiso on June 29. In mid-May when I received an email from Meret indicating that she was working on a booking for JFJO, I had just seen their bass player and co-founder Reed Mathis playing at Yoshi’s with Marco Benevento. Yoshi’s in San Francisco is the premier jazz club in the country, and Benevento may be the most technically accomplished and creative pianist on the planet.

Benevento and Reed were clearly in bliss playing with each other, Marco commenting on how much he loved playing with Reed, all good feeling and great music flowing into the audience and back. This perception and expression of JFJO’s bass player is evidently so prevalent in jazz/jam circles that his participation is in constant demand. In addition to JFJO and his position with Marco Benevento, Reed is the bass player for the Steve Kimock Band, recently took over the bass chair for San Francisco’s Tea Leaf Green, and often works with the likes of Robert Walter, Karl Denson, and Bobby Previte (that Mathis is their bass player of choice is the ultimate compliment).

With no limit to the diversity of styles, Reed can groove with Benevento, rock out with TLG, and jam with Kimock—this is the brilliance and excitement of seeing JFJO. Founded in 1993 by Reed and keyboard genius Brian Hass, JFJO has transcended and expanded the boundaries of music, from the inside with their own compositions and interpretations of Coltrane and Monk, and outside with variations of works by Brian Wilson, Bjork, and other composers. Now that JFJO is working with new drummer Josh Raymer, expect the unexpected at their Cafe Paradiso show, and don’t be surprised if you come out with your mind and music sensibilities expanded. To get a little taste check out their website (www.jfjo.com) and listen to the latest CD, Sameness of Difference.

And, I’m still wondering how Meret managed to pull JFJO into our own favorite neighborhood coffeehouse, with its 100 or so capacity, when this band regularly plays the top clubs in the country and most of the major jazz and jam festivals in the world, including co-headlining the Iowa City Jazz Festival a couple of years ago. Maybe it is the symmetry of both JFJO (Tulsa) and Meret being from Oklahoma, possibly Cafe Paradiso’s well-earned reputation among performers as a very special place to play, most likely the space between spaces that Fairfield is which manifests the artists who work in the gap. Whatever it is, Fairfield is going to love these guys, and JFJO will likely feel the same about Fairfield.

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