Joe Locke and trusted friend (photo by Alexandros Lambrovassilis)
You’re not sure you like jazz? You think the music’s too “cool,” or precious, or insular? Go see vibraphonist Joe Locke this weekend, when he brings his powerful quartet Force of Four to Club Blujazz. And if you still feel the same way after the set, we’ll talk.
Over the last decade, Locke has secured a spot among the world’s top jazz vibists – and one of the most popular. Without sacrificing his jazz integrity or intent, Locke still manages to engage even casual listeners with a mixture of edgy attitude and artistic purity. His rugged features and graying soul patch give him the appearance of a veteran hippie biker, and he revels in onstage flamboyance – both sartorial (muscle tees, brightly patterned shirts, mod tunics) and physical, with enough dramatic flourish in his playing to enter the Golden Globes.
Locke commands musical as well as visual attention. His lines have flash and pizzazz, but also an unforced lyricism, bubbling just under that force-of-nature enthusiasm. Even when the onslaught of notes threaten to pile up in a heap, Locke reins them in (if just barely) with his respect for melody.
Terron Gully
And when he solos (sometimes even when he doesn’t), you can’t take your eyes off him. He tenses visibly on tight passages. He jumps back after a complicated passage, as if the instrument had burned him, and then rocks back for the next phrase. He mutters the improvised lines under his breath as he simultaneously plies them with four mallets. He dances as he cues his band, then fixes the audience with a gimlet grin and glittering eyes.
But even for Joe Locke, it’s not easy to grab the spotlight in this band, whose self-titled 2008 album remains its only calling card. Cuban-born pianist Robert Rodriguez – not to be confused with the same-name gore-loving film director of Sin City – has a mesmerizingly fluid command of his energetic technique. Whether jabbing straight-ahead chords or applying salsa accents, he neatly meshes with Puerto Rican bassist Ricardo Rodriguez (no relation). And Terreon Gully, a sly powerhouse of a drummer, infuses a post-hip-hop sensibility where needed, lubricating the music with modern grease. Made up of these seemingly disparate but remarkably compatible parts, Force Of Four blends classic jazz swing and contemporary beats into a heady little rhythmic cocktail.
Force Of Four's eponymously titled 2008 album
Locke likes to say that he graduated from the “University of the Streets,” and for a while in the early 80s, he actually did work the asphalt, playing (for tips) with the legendary New York sidewalk saxist George Braith. In any case, he pretty much skipped college entirely, except for some studies at the Eastman School of Music in his native Rochester (NY). Self-taught as an improviser, his playing brims with a welcome lack of school-l’arn'd uniformity. And his appearance at Club Blujazz marks the highest-profile booking in the venue's short history.
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