TH E HARTFORD COURANT
Thursday March 22
See! Hear!

SPAZZTET'S TOUR MAKES SWING THROUGH CONNECTICUT

It takes a lot of fortitude to start a band nowadays, especially if an ensemble is interested in playing creative music. You can be assured of getting little or no airplay on "commercial" radio stations, you will have little or no chance of being signed by a "major" label (read conglomerate), and you will discover that there are fewer places to play these days.

All that said, the four musicians who make up Spazztet are heading out of Chicago for an East Coast tour that will take them to Baltimore, New York City- and to The Buttonwood Tree (605 Main Street, Middletown) tonight at 8 p.m.

The group was formed in 1997 when Zachary Brock (violin), who was attending Northwestern University, met Aaron Weistrop (guitar.) They discovered a mutual love of jazz and improvisation and both felt the desire to create an enviroment where they could play original music. The rhythm section has usually featured George Langford (acoustic bass) and several different drummers (they'll travel east with Joe Adamik).

The quartet will play music from their second self-produced and self-released CD, "Silent Films," plus selected earlier and newer works. The first realization upon listening to Spazztet's music is that these guys not only can play but also can swing pretty hard. Jazz is not necessarily a haven for violinists. There have been exceptions - trumpeter Ray Nance played some violin with the (sic) Duke Ellington while Stuff Smith and Stephane Grappeli had long, successful, careers.

Brock has a rich, often deep, tone and he also uses electronics such as "wah-wah" and "sustain" pedals. At times, the sound he gets make it seem as if he's playing viola. Weistrop plays electric guitar with little distortion (save the untitled track that closes the disk, on which he positively wails). He, too, uses different "effects" to alter his guitar's sound.

The music that the group plays accentuates the interplay between the participants. So often, creative music sounds like a free-for-all, but much of the music on "Silent Films" is smartly constructed. Gerald Dowd's drum work is sensitive to the changes in the compositions while usually pushing the pace of the pieces. Bassist Langford is the glue in the rhythm section, a solid presence in the sound spectrum. Cuts such as "Coffee Achiever" and "Sean and Greta" have a strong, driving, hard-bop feel, with guitar and violin playing the "head" in unison. One of the best tracks on the disk, "Quiet Time," has an open, bluesy, contemplative sound that goes down easily.

Spazztet is another in a long line of impressive youg creative music groups from Chicago. Along with the Ken Vandermark 5, the Chicago Underground Trio, Tricolor and others, they are pushing the boundaries in ways that other Windy City ensembles and musicians such as the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Henry Threadgill and Muhal Richard Abrams did 30 years ago. To find out more, hear them live tonight or go to www.spazztet.com. Maybe you'll find out what their name means.

- Richard Kamins


ALL ABOUT JAZZ

Here we have a Chicago based violin, guitar, bass and drums quartet who
playfully call themselves, "Spazztet". Throughout, the band performs with
candor, verve and certitude. It doesn't take too long to realize that these
musicians are serious, despite the humorous name and the quirky CD cover.
Many of these pieces swing hard as the musicians also afford themselves
ample solo space amid sonorous themes, some loose funk and the at times
hard-core improvisation, which is most notably evident on the tail end of
the final composition titled, "The Cat's Great Ascension". On this track the
musicians inflict heavy damage while launching the proceedings into
overdrive while undoubtedly gaining the respect of those who admire the
Mahavishnu Orchestra or more recently, the violin-guitar based prog/fusion
band, "Boud Deun"s. Good things are on the horizon for the extremely mobile
and articulate band known as "Spazztet" * * * 1/2

New and Noteworthy- April 2000; Glenn Astarita

Cadence- August 2000

The group Spazztet is becoming a nice addition to the largely discredited Jazz-rock field. They're an interesting quartet that often has guitar and violin dueling each other over intricate rhythmn changes. That can be a deadly dull recipe with some musicians but not these guys. They always play with a lot of humanity whether it's Zachary Brock's wistful violin on "Quiet Time" or the tumbling interplay of "Coffee Achiever" and "Now I Know." That last one is the wildest tune here with the wah-wah guitar from Aaron Weistrop bubbling over a locked rhythmn groove before Brock explodes with furious fiddling in the manner of the late Don "Sugercane" Harris. By contrast there are quiet pieces like "Liat Dreams," a spacey Jazz-bluegrass concotion that sounds like something from Pat Metheny's book. This group has style to burn despite their goofy name.


-Jerome Wilson


Listen Pick

Spazztet is a hard-to-categorize, inventive quartet that weaves its way through rhythmic challenges and spacey improvisation. Guitar and violin call out to each other and up the ante, falling into syncopated rhythms and echoing spur-of-the-moment melodies. One song finds them swinging in a sparse Post-Bop surge, while another takes them in and out of a '70s Fusion jam that's pleasantly free from any synthesizer madness. While haunting melodies ride the walking acoustic basslines, the drummer pauses from insistent swing, adding a taste of backbeat to the bitches brew.



Popcorn Music Review
September 1998


Spazztet's Web site contains an interesting essay in which leader Aaron Weistrop
explains why his jazz banddoesn't record standards. In part,
the guitarist fearsthat his group will get pigeonholed under bop, postbop,
swing, or some other marketing niche. Frankly, I doubt I'd be able to brand
Spazztet after hearing them play astandard or two; these guys are too creative to
pigeonhole. After repeated listens to Beautiful Impatience, the term
"modern jazz ensemble" is about as far as I'll go.

Spazztet consists of four talented twenty-somethings: Weistrop on guitar, Zach
Brock on violin, Ryan Hembrey on bass, and Justin Krameron drums. If Django Reinhardt
and Stephane Grapelli had met in Chicago in the mid-'90s instead of France in the
early '30s, they might have generated a sound like Spazztet's. Beautiful Impatience
is a demanding listen that probably won't appeal to pop-jazz aficionados or
even to some mainstream jazzbos, but it should satisfy cutting-edge jazz fans who
dig free-form improvisation. Many of these 10 originals feature quick tempo changes
and elements of bop and swing. Spazztet is a quirky modern-jazz ensemble that might
take you a few listens to appreciate, but in the end they're worth the effort.

All four guys can play, and guitarist Weistrop and violinist Brock engage in some
clever interplay throughout. By far the most accessible song on the CD is
"Fire Engine Red," the opening track. It has a slinky, hummable theme that segues
into bopping solos by Weistrop and Brock, followed by some nice drumming by
Kramer. Other high points include "The Two-Step Rule," a bluesy duet between Weistrop
and Hembrey; "The Snake," which despite its title, is actually quite beautiful;
and "Best of Friends," a bop piece on which all four players stretch out.

A few of these tunes meander outside my appreciationzone. Bear in mind that I'm a
dowdy middle-aged white dude who favors Blue Note-style bop, funky blues, fusion
and swing to anything new and different. My bottom-line assessment: Aaron Weistrop with Spazztet is an interesting band that generates some innovative sounds. It'll be fun to
see where their inventiveness takes them next.



Cadence: The Review of Jazz & Blues:Creative and Improvised Music: June 1999

"Beautiful Impatience" has a different instrumental mix: a guitar and violin led quartet. Aaron Weistrop and Zach Brock trade licks at a bewildering variety of tempos, usually changing tempos several times in one piece. When these guys relax and allow themselves to pursue one idea to its conclusion, as on "Fire Engine Red" and the creeping "Whenabouts," they sound really good. Weistrop has a thoughtful bluesy style somewhere between Frisell and Coryell, while Brock can wail, worry and screech like Jean-Luc Ponty. Elsewhere they don't fare so well. "If I had a Sportscar" has so many angles and quick changes it sounds gimmicky and artificial like Bela Fleck, while "Madly" is just background music. They recover with "The Two-Step Blues(sic)," a simple blues feature for Weistrop and bassist Ryan Hembrey. This group can play and if all their ideas don't work, their batting average is high enough to keep you interested.

- Jerome Wilson

Reviewer Magazine: Issue #6

Very creative jazz-improve sounding stuff similiar to what San Diego used to hear on "Lights Out Jazz", only more hyperactive. These guys from Chicago are experimental and slightly mental here with their first CD. They bridge the gap between sophisticated and playful. All original; the real thing jazz.



Illinois Entertainer
September 1998


Aaron Weistrop with Spazztet is a four piece jazz ensemble built around guitarist Weistrop and violinist Zach Brock, who consistently weave their instruments into tuneful melodies. Most of the long-form instrumentals on the band's Beautiful Impatience CD follow the same easy listening pattern, with drummer Justin Kramer or bassist Ryan Hembrey taking the spotlight on occasion. A casual listener may find it hard to discern where one song ends and another begins, but Beautiful Impatience still makes for a pleasant listening experience.

- Terrence Flamm