Gregory Howe's charmingly named
Throttle Elevator Music erupted in 2012 as an edgy expansion of the mellower turf established by his
Wide Hive Players. The
Throttle Elevator approach has been referred to as jazz-punk (or punk-jazz) but a more accurate description of the colliding textures might be to point out elements in common with
Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society,
Trevor Watts' Moire Music Trio, and
Ornette Coleman's Prime Time or even
Last Exit. In the realm of
Throttle Elevator Music, bassist/pianist
Matt Montgomery and a drummer/guitarist named
Lumpy interact bracingly with
Kamasi Washington, a fine tenor saxophonist from Los Angeles whose working history includes sessions with
Snoop Dogg,
George Duke,
Marcus Miller,
Gerald Wilson, and (by way of
Howe's production)
Phil Ranelin. For a good time, try comparing
Throttle Elevator Music with
New Corporate Resistance, an album released in 2012 by
the Neomythics, a rock band featuring
Lumpy and
Montgomery as well as
Wide Hive house drummer
Thomas McCree and guitarist
Harvey Mandel. Additionally, on
New Corporate Resistance,
Gregory Howe steps out from behind the producer/mix-master curtain to perform as singer, guitarist, and synthesizer manipulator. Both albums are ideally suited for friendly reckless dancing or nocturnal freeway driving.