 CRUNK/SURF OR FUNKY JAZZ?
You’d think that a band with Hari Honzu’s improvisational skills would be eager to align with the
jamband scene. Uh-uh. Although the all-instrumental (for now) quartet displays skills most jambands would envy, saxist Jonathan Rossman says, “Once there’s a scene to join, you’ve missed the boat. It’s either happening or it ain’t.” It’s been happening for Hari Honzu since Rossman—who takes most of the lead solos—and drummer David Christian met bassist Eivind Opsvik, who then brought in guitarist Aaron “Jag” Jennings. The band’s hypnotic, cascading excursions owe to a litany of funky-jazzy (or crunk/surf, as their MySpace page describes it) influences ranging from free-jazz titan Ornette Coleman (“a mentor to me,” says Rossman) to Talking Heads, and they’ve already killed at New York clubs like Nublu and Zebulon, as well as the Guggenheim Museum. The band plans to release a new EP of original music every couple of months. As for its curious name, Christian explains: “One night when Jag lost his cool he threatened to pull out his Hari Honzu... and there it was.” And there it is. www.myspace.com/harihonzu
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