3rd Band

To call 3rd Band a jazz quartet would be misleading. Four musicians are playing improvisational music and as soon as you hear or see them, you realize they are unconventional in every way. You'll notice the each of the unusual instrumentation of bass clarinet, accordion, saxophone, and the unique back-pack drum set are substitutes for the typical jazz lineup. Founder, primary arranger and composer, Danny Wolf takes charge of the rhythms on his own invention, called the back-pack drum set. The unusual drum set is meant to be played standing up, while using an array of percussive sounds and rhythmic complexity, to propel the music. Danny's concept was to create a unique musical experience, just as stimulating visually as it is musically. The 3rd Band is essentially a cover band with a distinct sound that includes rhythms from Morocco, complex jazz harmonies, and an underlying rock sensibility, taking recognizable repertoire from a variety of genres and putting them into this original context of avant-garde, poppy, or obscure. Beyonce's "Single Ladies," Soundgarden's "Spoonman," Scriabin's "Prelude Op. 74 No. 3," and Oscar Hammerstein's jazz standard, "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise" are just samples of the music that 3rd Band interprets.