Steven Bernstein wanted to form a band where he could play the slide trumpet. He united with three other musicians who shared his vision, and Sex Mob has been going strong ever since.
By PHILIP BOOTH
Published April 29, 2004
[Photo: Publicity photo]
Sex Mob consists of slide trumpet player Steven Bernstein, saxophone player Briggan Krauss, drummer Kenny Wollesen and acoustic bassist Tony Scherr. The band has released several albums, and its music has been heard during an animated piece on Saturday Night Live and as background on MTV reality-show programming.
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Steven Bernstein was rehearsing a concert three years ago with durable rock chanteuse Marianne Faithfull, trying out harmony parts on his slide trumpet, a rare instrument noted for how it managed to sound alternately ugly and beautiful.
During a break, Bernstein told Faithfull about his various projects - fronting his own groups at the Knitting Factory in Manhattan, arranging pieces for backup bands at high-profile events, working on the scores for films such as Get Shorty, and playing weddings on weekends.
Faithfull pointed to the slide trumpet and inquired: "People want to hear that thing at their wedding?"
Bernstein's horn, as distinctive as Faithfull's husky vocals, produces a sound that's unvarnished, but decidedly expressive. And, at least as played by Bernstein, it's no longer considered a novelty.
Earlier this month, the trumpeter, leader of avant-jazz band Sex Mob, put together and played with a band that backed James Taylor, Sting, Elton John, Bette Midler and other pop stars at the Rainforest Foundation benefit at New York's Carnegie Hall.
In eight years as leader of Sex Mob, Bernstein, 42, has integrated his unique instrument into a band that also boasts the muscular saxophone of Briggan Krauss, and the grinding, hard-grooving rhythm work of drummer Kenny Wollesen and acoustic bassist Tony Scherr. Wollesen, touring with John Zorn, will be replaced by Calvin Weston for the group's shows Saturday night at the Tropical Heatwave in Ybor City and Sunday afternoon at the Lobby Bar in St. Petersburg.
"Sex Mob was really the first band that was my band," Bernstein said last week from his home in New York. "Before, I was with Spanish Fly, which was a collective. The whole idea was to put together a band where I could play the slide trumpet. We played every Thursday night from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. (at the Knitting Factory). That was it. No grand plan."
The group's growing popularity and critical acclaim led to recording projects. Din of Inequity (1998) and Solid Sender (2000) had the band taking on Bernstein's originals and jazz and pop familiarities by Duke Ellington, Leadbelly, Prince, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead, Kurt Cobain and others.
Three years ago, Bernstein's quartet, plus guest organist John Medeski (of MMW), turned to music inspired by the soundtracks of 007 films, with Sex Mob Does Bond.
Along the way, Sex Mob music was heard behind an animated piece on Saturday Night Live and as background on MTV reality-show programming. In 2002 Bernstein released Diaspora Blues, a CD of Jewish cantorial music. He also has played sessions for Lou Reed, Linda Ronstadt and They Might Be Giants and played a weekly gig with the all-star Millennial Territory Orchestra. Scherr and Wollesen contributed to Norah Jones' smash 2002 CD Come Away With Me.
Bernstein opted for a new strategy for last year's Sex Mob album, Dime Grind Palace. He turned in a set of mostly originals, along with a twist on a Professor Longhair tune, and a demented version of the Blue Danube Waltz.
"Each of the other records was mainly about other people's songs," he said. "Each one is really individual and each one is really great. But I thought, "I'm not going to make that record again.' This is about something new in the world, something that's beautiful and real. A CD is a statement about what's happening now, a recording of the movement, of how our band is developing."
The disc, produced by Scotty Hard (Wu-Tang Clan, Charlie Hunter, MMW), was recorded over three days in New York. Bernstein, Krauss, Scherr and Wollesen were joined by avant-jazz trombonist Roswell Rudd; slide guitarist David Tronzo and tuba player Marcus Rojas, with whom Bernstein worked in Spanish Fly; clarinetist Doug Wieselman, the trumpeter's colleague from the Lounge Lizards; keyboardist Peter Apfelbaum, a member of Trey Anastasio's band; and Brian Mitchell, who has played keyboards with Bob Dylan and Roseanne Cash.
It's a bizarre mix, with the loopy bebop of Conk Buster, the trancelike Mothra, the call-and-response Call to the Freaks, the New Orleans street-band sounds of the parallel Entrance Music and Exit Music and suggestions of Ellington and Count Basie. And it's all instantly identifiable as the Sex Mob.
"Now, to me, there's a Sex Mob style of playing," he said. "It's defined now. I don't know where Sex Mob music fits in. It's just this music we make. I do Sex Mob because I love to do this. It's what I want to do."
