Bad.Loud.Trio

Washington D.C.

At first glance, the Bad.Loud.Trio appears to be simply another slick little jazz combo. Upon deeper investigation, one will find a whole lot more in trio's chic amalgamation of jazz, rock, fusion, salsa, funk, and even punk. Joel Sephy (piano), Dane Galloway (bass) and Kirk Kubicek (percussion) find themselves playing somewhere in between the modern bop (Miles Davis ca. 1959), the avant-garde jazz (think Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, or John Coltrane), and pop-influenced modern jazz artists (like The Bad Plus or Robert Glasper). Their mischievous name is a tongue-and-cheek bluff: B.L.T. is not bad, unless you mean “boss”, and while they have been known to play loudly on occasion, they are found pondering diminutive volumes just as often. Recently conceived in the Washington D.C. suburb city of College Park, Maryland, the Bad.Loud.Trio is a year-old collaboration of three musicians well educated in the essentials of jazz. Two group’s members are current music students hailing from the Jazz Studies department at the University of Maryland, the other is a learned multi-instrumentalist. Combined, their playing experience totals nearly forty years on their respective instruments. Joel Sephy, a native of Williamsbug, Va., has been tickling the ivories since the ripe old age of four. He cites Thelonious Monk, Oscar Peterson, John Adams, and Ben Folds as his greatest musical inspirations. Kirk Kubicek recalls being sat behind a set of drums by his father when he was as little as two years old. Coming from Sykesville, Md., his percussive influences range from Billy Higgins to Keith Moon and Tony Williams. For several years, Kubicek was part of the recently broken-up College Park-based rock band, “Back to Save the Universe”. Dane Galloway's playing comes from a diverse background of influences, including Charles Mingus, Scott LaFaro, and Edgar Meyer. Born and raised in Frederick, Md., he is a jack-of-all-trades musician who also plays piano, guitar, vibraphone, and melodica. Rock and pop sensibilities find a way into B.L.T.’s cerebral approach to their repertoire, which is evident in the handful of covers they have under their belt. With a more contemplative, Coltrane-esque approach to classics like Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean”, reworked into a 3/4 arrangement, the group traverses a whole spectrum of emotion from a quiet meditation to a tempestuous cacophony of sound. Increasingly though, the B.L.T. is dedicating more time to originals written by both Sephy and Galloway. The tunes tease the dichotomy of harmony and melody, celebrating pedals (bass-heavy, melodic, rhythmic, harmonic, etc.), and they can at times be extremely volatile, emotional, and technically demanding. The most impressive moments in The B.L.T.’s compositions and renderings are when the three players find themselves interacting in a state of free amalgamation. The music breathes- a sense of push and pull exists, shared between the three musicians, locked in musical exploration. Galloway’s bass proves to be just as percussive as Kubicek’s drums in these stirring moments of sonic whirling. Sephy’s keys provide the harmonic landscape for the trio’s journey through whatever style they tackle. The trio’s sense of dynamics and texture compliment their free sense of time, which can often be elastic, but full of conviction, playfulness, and intensity. These three players are dedicated to providing their audience and themselves with an absorbing and provocative cochlear experience. The Bad.Loud.Trio. is equally as enjoyable to watch as to hear. Every member is clearly emotionally invested in the music and each other. The plentiful facial expressions (most often smiles) and bodily inflections enhance the language of their fresh brand of jazz.