Original image of Stas Thee Boss, Bendji Allonce and Kassa Overall by There Stands the Glass.
A modified stage dive during Kassa Overall’s appearance at Mississippi Studios on Saturday, August 26, affirmed jazz’s historic mutability. The euphoric 75-minute performance also clarified the ambitious artist’s intent.
Once a drummer for elite artists like the late Geri Allen, Overall is committed to expanding the sound associated with Kendrick Lamar’s groundbreaking 2015 album To Pimp a Butterfly. Overall’s current tour focuses on material from his latest release Animals.
Joined by soprano saxophonist Tomoki Sanders, pianist Ian Finkelstein, bassist Giulio Xavier Cetto and percussionist Bendji Allonce, Overall drummed and rapped with wild abandon. An expansion of the interpolation of “This Train (Is Bound for Glory)” heard on “I Know You See Me” was among the selections in which the quintet breathed new life into old forms.
Stas THEE Boss, a musician best known as a member of the Seattle group ThEESatisfaction, joined the band for a hypnotic rendition of "Tried It". Yet even the pieces that presented as hip-hop possessed unmistakable jazz foundations. Finkelstein’s playing in particular rendered genre distinctions meaningless.
As for that stage dive: after indicating the audience of about 250 should part, Sanders leapt from the stage and ran through the club. Scrambling back, bounced off the lip of the stage and exited again. As a percussion workout climaxed, Sanders hurled himself onto the stage. Punk rockers- as well as everyone who embraces the ongoing evolution of jazz- should be impressed.