Veteran Milwaukee jazz musician Jack Grassel and his longtime musical partner and wife, singer Jill Jensen, are performing a major concert on Monday, Aug. 10 at the Italian Community Center. Among other things, the event marks the release of Grassel’s 20th solo album, 2015 Jack, issued shortly after the couple returned from their annual musical vacation in Mexico. One track on the album, “Viene del Ama,” was recorded in Cancun with local rapper Tacuacko FT.
Who is Tacuacko FT?
JG: Tacuacko FT is a bartender at a place where we sometimes play during our vacations. He’d come up to the microphone while we were playing and freeform—he just improvised on top of what we were doing. I like his words. There is no violence in his texts. He’s rapping about happiness.
On the cover of 2015 Jack, you’re playing an instrument you invented. It looks like a guitar with three necks.
JG: It’s three instruments in one. My left hand can go freely from instrument to instrument—I can play a few measures on mandolin, then on guitar, and then do a bass solo. I can play them all continually. I can play two instruments with one hand because the necks are so close together—my hand can span two instruments. This is my 20th album and it’s the first time I’ve pleased myself 100%. I engineered it myself, so I didn’t have to please the technician. No one else had a financial interest in it.
Tell me about the song selections on the new album. You recorded three by Cassandra Wilson…
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JG: I had performed all of them in public. They are happy songs. There are so many songs about bad love—I didn’t want any broken-hearted songs.
And you included an ’80s rock song, “Steppin’ Out” by Joe Jackson, on the album?
JG: If one does standards now, you have to update where the standards come from. You don’t have to perform standards from the ’30s and ’40s forever. Music moves forward.
JJ: You have to do what you like to do and hope people will come along with the program. That’s the hardest part of being a performer nowadays—playing music that’s neither clichéd nor unfamiliar. And what is a standard anyway? They’re just songs. We chose the songs we like.
What are you planning for your upcoming concert?
JG: It’s a two-and-a-half hour concert with two sets. We’ll have saxophonist Johnny Padilla with us as our guest artist—he moved here from Texas 10 years ago. He’s a great virtuoso and can play anything you put in front of him.
JJ: It’s a concert on a stage in a courtyard. It’s a beautiful setting: People can dance and there is food and a bar. Johnny might surprise us by bringing different wind instruments.
What will your song list look like?
JJ: Like good professional musicians, we’ll keep our fingers on the pulse of the audience. If someone requests a ballad and we know it, we’ll play it. Our set list will be massaged based on what we see in the audience—that’s the advantage of live music. We can respond to the people.
Grassel and Jensen will perform 6:30-9 p.m., Monday, Aug. 10 at the Italian Community Center Courtyard Music Series, 631 E. Chicago St.
