"Quartet Junk" Puts on A Clean Performance at Dante's
Kurt Geisler
Issue date: 4/8/09 Section: Music
Quartet Junk, a jazz/funk ensemble, brought plenty of cool beats to Dante's Bar last Friday and for many, started off spring break on a high note (even if some of us are wishing to escape to warmer weather). Quartet Junk featured a dual keyboard player, drummer, electric bass, saxophone, and a guest WVU student who traded off between trumpet and French horn. Playing mostly instrumental tunes, a female singer would sometimes join the group for a few songs as well.
On stage, the band could be seen laughing and nodding encouragingly to one another while members took turns with solos. The trumpet and saxophone players were a constant throughout many of the songs, trading back and forth between notes, but harmonizing on certain parts. The electric bass player was another sight to see. Switching between slap bass and plucking, the bassist played all over the neck of the bass. The drummer was a solid back bone for the entire group, keeping up with whatever the other players threw at him.
Unfortunately, no solo was heard throughout the entire set. One of the more interesting players was the keyboardist. Although skilled, his selection of sounds for certain songs could be questioned. Putting techno/electric synthesized sound to old fashioned funk might be worth exploring to many and worked relatively well for some parts, the overall feel was "is it really necessary?" What really got the crowd going was when the groups female singer got on stage, and performed renditions of many classic jazz tunes with power house vocals, such as "Fever" and "Ain't No Sunshine."
By the end of the night, no one was disappointed leaving Dante's Bar. Despite the weather, the send off for students and the start of spring break began with a head full of songs to keep our minds off the cold walk home.
On stage, the band could be seen laughing and nodding encouragingly to one another while members took turns with solos. The trumpet and saxophone players were a constant throughout many of the songs, trading back and forth between notes, but harmonizing on certain parts. The electric bass player was another sight to see. Switching between slap bass and plucking, the bassist played all over the neck of the bass. The drummer was a solid back bone for the entire group, keeping up with whatever the other players threw at him.
Unfortunately, no solo was heard throughout the entire set. One of the more interesting players was the keyboardist. Although skilled, his selection of sounds for certain songs could be questioned. Putting techno/electric synthesized sound to old fashioned funk might be worth exploring to many and worked relatively well for some parts, the overall feel was "is it really necessary?" What really got the crowd going was when the groups female singer got on stage, and performed renditions of many classic jazz tunes with power house vocals, such as "Fever" and "Ain't No Sunshine."
By the end of the night, no one was disappointed leaving Dante's Bar. Despite the weather, the send off for students and the start of spring break began with a head full of songs to keep our minds off the cold walk home.
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