Skerik's Syncopated Taint Septet is neither, by strict definition, a jazz group nor a funk group, but rather an amalgam of the two that blurs the lines so thoroughly that
the ST7, as they like to be called, ends up sounding like something else altogether. There's a deep, ever-grooving bottom underlying all of their movements, but it's nothing
James Brown or
George Clinton would necessarily recognize. And although
Thelonious Monk's off-center improvisations,
Ornette Coleman's harmolodic experimentalism, and late-model bop are suggested in the mix, there's also bon temps roulez New Orleans R&B lurking near the top, hip-hop rhythmic attitude sneaking in below, and breezy cool Hammond B-3 organ (supplied by Joe Doria) keeping the soul quotient high right through the middle. With five horns up front (the uni-monikered leader, Skerik, one of the band's three saxists, among them), at times coordinated to precision and at others mischievously stirring up chaos, a drummer in John Wicks who ceaselessly thrusts things forward while keeping it all anchored, and a flutist (
Hans Teuber) to brew up warmth and airiness,
the ST7 generates multi-tiered, category-challenged sonic excitement on their second effort. ~ Jeff Tamarkin