The
Psycho Jazz Contingency in Columbia, South Carolina
The
Psycho Jazz Contingency in Columbia, South Carolina
Reviewed by Joe Montague and Cyndee Kaule
Pearlz
Upstairz Lounge located in the Vista entertainment area of Columbia, South
Carolina is a Jazz music venue a little less than two months old situated above
the restaurant at 936 Gervais Street and on Saturday February 16th
the new club played host to The Psycho Jazz Contingency led by trumpet player
Mark Rapp. Rapp who also plays the flugelhorn and the
didgeridoo returned to his native South Carolina in recent years, after living
and performing in New York City, New Orleans and Geneva, Switzerland.
Rapp has performed to sold out houses at Blue Note in New York City, Yoshi’s in
San Francisco, Blues Alley in Washington D.C., Jazzland in Vienna, Austria and
Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at the Lincoln Center, as well he has played the JVC
Newport Jazz Festival. On this
night Pearlz Upstairz Lounge was near capacity, but unfortunately the band was
in continual competition with a crowd that was noisy and seemed largely
uniformed about Jazz, which is a shame, because at times it overshadowed some
solid performances by keyboardist Nick Brewar and Mark Rapp. Brewar is a
keyboardist to keep an eye on in the future, as he plays passionately, he makes
the music jump and his feet never stop moving while he plays, sending up
reminders of Blues icon Marcia Ball. Rounding out the quartet were electric bass
player Dustin Retzlaff and drummer Brendon Bull.
As has been the case throughout much of his career Rapp’s band is very eclectic,
at times edgy, other times downright funky and they demonstrated they could
swing, play post-modern Jazz, New Orleans style Jazz (“The Second Line”) and
reinterpret artists such as Madonna, when they opened their first set with “Like
A Prayer.” The song featured a keyboard solo and Rapp at times playing a muted
trumpet.
The Psycho Jazz Contingency served up their take on the British Rock band The
Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry,” as Brendon Bull did a capable job playing his drums
with brushes and he gave his hi-hat cymbals a workout.
Mark Rapp played a trumpet solo,
beginning by tapping the valves of his horn in rapid succession, before winding
down with a languid rhythm.
About half the way through the first set Rapp unleashed his didgeridoo on the
unsuspecting patrons of Pearlz Upstairs blowing it through a wa-wa pedal, giving
the drone timbered instrument a funky sound. For those not familiar with the
didgeridoo it is an ancient wind instrument that originated with the indigenous
Australians, most often carved of wood, but in Rapp’s case he uses a composite
for the construction of his didgeridoo.
The second set opened with the aforementioned “Boys Don’t Cry,” by The Cure,
with Rapp playing the flugelhorn, as the instrument’s natural softer and
mellower sound combined with Brewar’s keys to produce an up-tempo, warm mood
that was aptly supported by Rezlaff’s playing in the pocket.
The song kicked off the second set in
fine fashion, as the band kicked into a higher gear and seemed to feed off of
the energy of the people who were now dancing just a few feet away.
It was however, the toe-tapping, head nodding, New Orleans tune “Second Line,”
that put the crowd’s heads on a swivel and directed their focus to the stage and
the musicians, with Mark Rapp’s trumpet as the centerpiece. At times he used a
wine glass to dampen his trumpet and create a vibrato effect.
The evening ended with Mark Rapp playing on his flugelhorn Bob Thiele’s (penned
under the name George Douglas) and George David Weiss’ tune “What A Wonderful
World,” (first recorded by Louis Armstrong), as he was accompanied by the rest
of The Psycho Jazz Contingency.
One critique we would make about the performance and it is difficult to tell if
this is a chicken and the egg scenario, is we would have liked to have seen Mark
Rapp engage his audience a little bit more. That being said, we did acknowledge
in the beginning that this was a noisy and seemingly somewhat Jazz naïve group
of patrons. One would hope that as the word gets out in Columbia, South Carolina
about this new venue that General Manager Mike Evans’ vision of establishing a
premiere Jazz venue patronized by loyal and well informed Jazz fans will be
realized.
This interview is protected by copyright © and may not be reproduced in print or on the internet or through any other means without the written permission of Riveting Riffs Magazine, All Rights Reserved