REVIEWS: MAY 2003

Byproduct
Byproduct
Independent BYP 001

Reviewed by Paul Serralheiro - The term "byproduct," according to my desk dictionary, means "something produced (as in manufacturing) in addition to the principle product" and "a secondary and sometimes unexpected or unintended result." The second definition seems especially relevant, particularly the part about "unexpected or unintended result." This first recording by the young and just-out-of-school Montreal trio of Chet Doxas on reeds and electronics, brother Jim on drums and double bassist Zack Lober definitely has a fresh and unexpected maturity.

Although just in their mid-twenties, these musicians have managed to appropriate a wide range of jazz styles while developing a contemporary sound. Obviously, the electronics bring in a present-day timbre and the resonance of the technological connotations of the band's name, but a state-of-the-art quality is also present in Chet Doxas' dry but supple tenor sound and the rhythmic ideas worked out by Jim Doxas and Lober. "Nature Seen," the opening track, for example, is propelled by rhythms generated by machines which are convincingly emulated and developed by the trio, as are parts of "Future girl," and both tunes have the drive of electronic dance beats.

Post-modern pastiche is clear in "Lana" (a ballad with echoes of Broadway lyricism pulled by a strong samba undertow), in the bebop-streaked "Scooby Snax," and in "88," which has a New Orleans-inspired bass line and touches of Dizzy-esque Cubanisms, not to mention the use of sampled voice. Equally eclectic is "Quarter Life Crisis," which goes from a funky opening statement to a quasi Rossinian dramatic aria section then back to funky hard bop and onto straight-ahead swing. The trio's flexibility and rhythmic cohesiveness in the eye of diversity are commendable and most dramatically displayed in the abstract "Three Sections" and "Holden's Fall," another of the disk's three ballads. The musicians are also thinking composers, by the way, with five of the nine tunes by Lober and the rest by Chet Doxas.

Despite the contemporary take, this is still roots jazz, however, as we find echoes throughout of composers like Horace Silver, Hank Mobley, John Coltrane, show tunesmiths and even New Orleans second liners. "In order to be original, you have to imitate," the surrealist painter Salvador Dali declared, and this recording is clear evidence of the truth of the paradox. Byproduct resonates with an integrated eclecticism, and offers something of its own in the process.