NthPower

By Derek Malone

For their latest album, The Nth Power opted to skip the studio and record their newest material live at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn. As some critics have noted, “they cut out the middleman.” The end result, Live To Be Free was released on November 11th, 2016 on Harmonized Records.

Nevertheless, the music sounds so tight and polished that I’d forgotten that I was listening to a live album until I heard a smattering of applause following the second song.

I like to make a certain generalization about the difference between jazz and rock music that is not without controversy. Some people vehemently disagree with me, and name all sorts of exceptions, but I think it’s generally true so here goes:

Jazz is the best live music, whereas rock is better in the studio.

In this respect, The Nth Power would certainly seem to fall in the jazz category, though they also play some of the more interesting rock I’ve heard recently.

It’s not too often that I come across a band that’s hard to categorize, but The Nth Power is one. It’s easy to point out the eclectic mix of styles on display: jazz fusion, funk, rock, gospel, R&B, soul, and world music. Many forgettable jam bands and jazz artists are fluent in all of these styles and more. The crucial distinction here is just how all these disparate elements are combined to create something that sounds new and altogether different.

Such a mixing of styles is perhaps the essence of creative originality. The tricky part is in the how, how it’s done. If there were a teachable formula for that, then there would always be an abundance of original artists. Instead, those few that strike us as original often, no matter how much we may know about them, retain a certain unknowable quality, some impenetrable mystery, even to themselves.

The generic term for a such a quality is “chemistry,” though some bands also look back on their careers and make some vague reference to some outside, intangible inspiration that was the key to their success, what Bill Ward of Black Sabbath once called, “The Source.” With The Nth Power, there is ample evidence that both may be at play.

Formed in 2012 with an “impromptu late-night jam session” at Jazz Fest in New Orleans where the quartet is based, The Nth Power is a multi-ethnic band made up of veteran musicians that many people have never heard of.

Drummer Nikki Glaspie (Dumpstaphunk) was a touring drummer with Beyoncé for five years. Bassist Nate Edgar was in Groovechild and the reggae group John Brown’s Body. Lead singer and guitarist Nick Cassarino came from the Jennifer Hartswick Band and toured with Big Daddy Kane, of all people.

The newest member, keyboardist/vocalist Courtney J. Mell Smith, like Glaspie and Cassarino, and many other accomplished jazz musicians I’ve talked with over the years, got his first playing experience in church, an experience which may be as formative for many as a degree from Berklee College of Music or Juilliard.

Glaspie has spoken of a “spiritual bond” that holds the band together. They call each other out on stage with monikers such as “the prophet” and “the evangelist.” And indeed, a certain sense of uplift pervades from the opening track “Freedom” and continues throughout. Most of the songs are more than six minutes long, but they fly by because they are well written and energetic, with nicely-harmonized choruses. Unlike with many jam bands, the vocal passages are far more than perfunctory interludes that connect a procession of long, virtuoso solos — though there are a more than a few of them, if that’s what you like.

Cassarino mostly sings in an ever-so-thoughtful soft falsetto that stands in sharp contrast with his shredding and sweep-picking guitar solos that are bathed in heavy distortion, wah-wah, and a plethora of other effects. He’s a mixture of darkness and light.

Glaspie attacks the snare drum with a consistently hard-hitting backbeat and sweeps across her kit with fills that are so fast that they’re easy to miss if you don’t listen closely.

“Truth,” with it’s odd time-signature and brainy, socio-political lyrics, made me think at times of the late 80’s progressive funky-metal band Living Colour.

Smith vacillates between old churchy-sounding organ swells and a variety of funky synth sounds, some of which recall Earth, Wind, and Fire. It’s an interesting sonic blend.

For me, the highlight of the whole album is the epic, 9 minute plus funk-gospel-rock, “Right Now” which has the whole band fired on all cylinders. An uplifting and catchy vocal harmony followed by incredible keyboard and guitar solos, which build and build to an ecstatic crescendo.

Pass the collection plate.

Live To Be Free is available:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0mqY11090fInjicLSzqVaY
iTunes: http://apple.co/2oiDSSw
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2pLqKWt

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