Happy Apple and Sex Mob are bringing their talent, energy, and senses of humor to San Francisco when they co-headline two nights at Yoshi’s San Francisco on May 20^th & 21^st.

Happy Apple

Often described as Jazz Punk, Happy Apple was formed in the early nineties in Minneapolis and features drummer Dave King (The Bad Plus, Buffalo Collision), electric bassist Erik Fratzke (Zebulon Pike), and saxophonist/keyboardist Michael Lewis (Fat Kid Wednesdays). The band strives to offer a more approachable alternative to post-modern jazz. Happy Apple “keeps out of the fusion trap by implying rock dynamics without actually surrendering to them”, and by doing so, amount to something much larger than the sum of their parts. Their seventh and most recent album, Happy Apple Back On Top, is a heady exercise in abstract musicianship that is similar to a “drive from the gritty downtown dance beats to (the) sonic suburbs.”

Hailing from the NYC downtown scene, Sex Mob successfully straddles the line between avant-garde and mainstream. The band’s music might be called experimental jazz, but that hasn’t prevented appearances on Saturday Night Live, MTV, and National Public Radio. The quartet explodes with the talents of slide-trumpeter and bandleader Steven Bernstein (Rufus Wainwright, Millennial Territory Orchestra), saxophonist Briggan Krauss (Good Kitty, John Zorn), bassist Tony Scherr (Norah Jones, Bill Frisell, The Lounge Lizards), and drummer Kenny Wollesen (Tom Waits, Bill Frisell, New Klezmer Trio). Sex Mob carries on the jazz tradition of deconstructing popular music with strong melodies; but, instead of simply playing standards, the band uses James Bond themes, Prince, Nirvana, the Rolling Stones, and even the “Macarena.” The result is rollicking, good time jazz with a sense of humor.

There is no telling what will happen when these two powerhouse bands play under the same roof and on the same bill.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at 2:00 pm and is filed under Yonas Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.