When he’s not busy being the heart and soul of Charles Lloyd’s quartet, pianist Jason Moran continues a 10+ year relationship with his own Bandwagon with Tarus Mateen/b and Nasheet Waits/dr which came to the Musician’s Institute and mixed a respect for jazz’s history with an exciting and intriguing foray into the future.
Introducing many of his songs with tape loops ranging from rural gospel folk to the rhythm of Thelonious Monk’s tap dance or even a phrase by Fats Waller, Moran used these cadences as a taking off point for his own explorative solos. A hip hopping “Honeysuckle Rose” mixed stride and post modern while an ultra herky jerky “Evidence” seque’d into “Crepescule With Nellie” under the traffic direction of Mateen’s flexible bass and Wait’s hairpin turning drum work. Mateen’s own “Cisse 3000” had the bassist create a rivulet of a groove, while “Blessing…” spotlighted the gentle and lyrical side of the trio.
Most intriguing, and possibly becoming the band’s signature style, is the fascinating way in which the tape loops serve as starting blocks for melodies and solos. The program of tap dancing feet serving as a backbeat for “Little Rootie Tootie” or Waller’s phrase of “I think swing will be her forever and a day” serving as a tight little cascading groove was satisfying to both mind and feet. Satisfying the soul was a rural gospel tune that had Moran and company turning up the heat until the band was rolling in the aisles like a Pentecostal revival, by the time they closed with a free form and rollicking “I Found A New Baby,” you felt like you’ve been taken on a time travel through jazz’s past, present and future, and in Bandwagon’s hands, the future looks bright.