Gator by the Tail

Swampfunk. That's the moniker The Jason Cale Band uses to describe their particular blend of NOLA-influenced rockin' blues & soul. Their new EP, Gator By The Tail, distills it all into grooves that move from bayou boogie to echoes of vintage southern rock and (at the edges) the rocking side of jazz fusion, all with an approach that never sounds dated. It's the sound of a band playing in the dead of summer in a room with no AC, with the music getting hotter and hotter as the temps go through the roof. Songs sweat with intensity and emotion as they shape shift from one tempo to the next.

“I don't tell anybody what to play,” says Cale, whose commanding presence on guitar and vocals propels everything constantly forward. “I allow everyone to bring their full artistry. We've all played everything from classical to jazz to gospel to rock. All of it. I want everyone to bring 100% of their spirit and soul. One of the keys to our sound and the music we make is all the guys have the freedom to be the artists they are, that's what makes us special. I want to see everyone digging in hard. If we go off the beaten path we find our way back and, in that journey, we create something beautiful and new. We have our form, we can add to it or subtract from it. We're always engaging each other with our eyes and ears, that's where the jazz experience we all have lets the music unfold differently every time.”

Gator By The Tail is about lessons learned, strength through adversity and, above all perseverance. “I took an airboat ride in the Honey Island Swamp. I was looking at all the gators and thinking about how you have to watch out who you're dealing with. We all have setbacks and have to swim through challenges, but you come through on the other side and you find there are things that keep you going, good things.” From funky blues with a second line swagger to swampy soul that makes time stand still, and an array of stops along the way that pull it all together, The Jason Cale Band is as relentless as a kudzu vine, but a helluva lot more fun.

Across the five tracks, that philosophy surfaces in the playing. Cale's instruction, that everyone brings what classical, jazz, gospel, and rock training have given them, sits inside arrangements that let a measure stretch and a tempo turn when the room asks for it. Robert Carranza's production keeps the heat of the take front and center, so the dynamics that travel from bayou boogie to vintage southern rock to the rocking edge of jazz fusion stay alive on tape rather than getting polished into a single style.