Photo Credit: Bryan Mir
KASE
There is beauty in going beyond, and this Friday, a pair of local acts will look to do just that at The Ivy House. Jazz trio KASE, consisting of Jamie Breiwick, John Christensen and Jordan Lee will present Live at the Opera House, an improvisational album, as well as Breiwick’s “Sound Museum” coffee table book. This is much more than your typical album release party.
Live at the Opera House is a byproduct of the slew of virtual concerts that were prevalent at the beginning of the pandemic, with a unique experience that was captured while performing at the Stoughton Opera House for a broadcast. What KASE does as a trio was already interesting, interspersing conventional jazz with hip hop turntablism from Lee. The added layer of Klassik, a well-versed improviser as well with a classical music background before his hip hop production days, makes for a synergy that crosses into elements of lo-fi, electronica and beyond. The combination recorded two roughly hour-long sets for a jazz festival, and the album essentially made itself as organically as possible.
“It was kind of a magical night” explains Lee. “We were set to play the DIG Jazz series in Madison for a virtual event, and it changed location, sort of serendipitously to the Stoughton Opera House. We were talking about having a guest, and we all unanimously agreed that working with Klassik would be a good fit. We knew that it would go well, but we didn’t know it would go like, really well. Not only was the performance good, but the recording was stellar from it. The team in Madison that streamed it was great, so we took the board mix and remastered it with only some changes in terms of the number of songs.
“We got done with the gig, and the next day, there was a group text” recalls Klassik. “Jordan’s like ‘I think we should do something with these songs.’ The idea came about to put it out as a live album. The music is the set as it occurred. I’m a huge fan of embracing the spontaneity and the spirit of jazz which I already try to incorporate into my performances as a solo artist. To be able to get to do that with a group of musicians and have that freedom to really experiment and have something afterwards was like ‘maybe we could really do something with this.’”
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Photo via KASE
KASE & Klassik
There is no shortage of creativity on display between the two acts, and the hybrid approach pulls from the finer points of both hip hop and jazz. This release doesn’t just blur the lines between genres, but rather makes them fade into the abyss, with a combination of styles that feels truly new. Logistically, the set also merges digital, heavily analyzed and calculated tempos with the freeform nature of improv in a way that shouldn’t sound as natural as it does. Years of DJing and manipulating samples, as well as some rapid-fire audio technology, allows Lee and Klassik to do what they do completely on the fly.
“It’s strictly improv” said Klassik. “There are no rehearsals, we don’t get together ahead of time and work on these things. It’s jazz in its truest form.”
“I was lucky in the sense that I knew Hitmayng, who was the DJ for KASE before me” said Lee. “He and I met at the Miltown Beatdown beat battle. I got to see him perform twice with KASE, and I understood how he was setting it up. He was laying down breaks that he pre-created and parts of beats that he had made, to introduce key and melody, and he would scratch. He introduced the formula of what I continue to do, but I do it my own way. I like to be able to do some turntablism tricks, so that’s how I’m able to improvise with a live drummer. Through years of DJing I’ve learned how to manipulate and bend samples into whatever key the guys are jamming in.”
Live at the Opera House will see a limited cassette run on Breiwick’s B Side Recordings imprint as well as digital distribution, and “Sound Museum” will be released through B Side Graphics. Friday night will feature sets from both acts individually, as well as a joint appearance to close out the night. A clothing pop-up will also accompany the music and book release, with the performances being captured by photographer Samer Ghani for a future project. A portion of the proceeds from the release event will go towards The Jazz Foundation of America. The location in Walker’s Point is not typically host to many concerts, which intrigued Lee and Breiwick into the possibility of going beyond the norm.
“This is a fun way to do something out of the box. We’re trying to be a very intentionally different band” said Lee. “With this one, we wanted to do something a little more fun, so think MTV Unplugged. We’ve already made an album with Klassik, so now we’ll make a movie with him. We’re going to perform under the chandelier in the round. It’s going to be a very intimate feeling, for a very different kind of show.
Tickets for the release event are currently on sale, with cassette, book and table reservation packages available as well. For more information about the event, you can visit the KASE website here.
