New Jazz Fusion Takes the Stage at Muddy Waters

Sean McEniry
Writer

Trumpetist Daniel Rosenboom’s new jazz band exploded onto the Santa Barbara music scene with original compositions that pushed the boundaries of innovation. The Daniel Rosenboom Septet performed on Thursday, January 13, at Muddy Waters Cafe as the most recent installment of the Santa Barbara New Music Series. This acoustic jazz-rock septet is on tour after the release of their first album “Fallen Angeles.”

Dottie Grossman’s quirky beat poetry opened the show, with guitarist Tom McNally and drummer Rich West providing ambient musical interludes.

“It was phenomenal, a surprising inter-generational mix that the new music scene should be proud of,” said KCSB Development Coordinator Theodore Coe, in reference to Grossman’s opening performance.

Rosenboom carefully selected the musicians who would showcase his original compositions. Bassist Sam Minaie and drummer Caleb Dolister collaborated with Rosenboom in the jazz-rock band DR. MiNT, and saxophonists Gavin Templeton and Brian Walsh perform with Rosenboom in the “electro-Balkan-gypsy-jazz-rock band” PLOTZ!, a group that plays regularly at the Biko house in Isla Vista and in Santa Barbara. California Institute of the Arts educators complete the lineup, with David Rosenboom on piano and Vinny Golia on the tubax, a low pitched saxophone that combines the words “tuba” and “sax.”

Preceding the performance, Daniel Rosenboom said that the music had deep personal meaning to him.

The Daniel Rosenboom Septet carried the audience through jazz soundscapes as rich and unique as the instruments they used. At times contemplative and harmonically resonating, at other times driving and rhythmically satisfying, the music covered a wide spectrum of jazz styles and moods.

Coe said that the performance was challenging but fulfilling.

“So many saxophones playing together sounded great,” he said.

As the climax of their set, the band played a five-song suite from their new album.
Rosenboom’s avant-garde band, Killsonic, will be playing Saturday, January 29 at the Pop tART Gallery in Los Angeles.

PLOTZ! will perform for the March installment of the Santa Barbara New Music Series, which is held every second Thursday of the month at Muddy Waters Cafe.