A little while back we reported on Mint 400 Records the North Jersey label known for Indie Rock and Folk starting a new Jazz sub-label called Raining Music. One of their first signings and soon I’m sure to be a staple of this label is the Boston band City Of Four. The band has a forthcoming album slated for March, “Where Were We?”. On this newest album, the bands second, they display a diverse range of influences. The band mixes elements of jazz fusion pioneers like Herbie Hancock and Weather Report, and takes inspiration from contemporary jazz artists like Robert Glasper, Joshua Redman, and Aaron Parks, while presenting a sound simultaneously familiar and singularly unique. The bands single “Orbs”, which is available this Friday 2/25/22 is streaming today exclusively at BloodMakesNoise!
The band's sound is an amalgamation of the creative minds of its four composers. Mike Caudill (saxophone), Blain Crawford (bass), Steve Wilkinson (drums), and Christian Tremblay (keyboards), who met playing with various groups in Boston, each contribute a distinct compositional style. Here is a Playlist of what inspired the band on this newest track along with what they had to say about their first single with Raining Music:
From Mike (composer):
"I wrote "Orbs" in May 2019 for the band to play at a weeknight jazz/funk residency we were doing at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge. The band was coming off about two years of primarily funk gigs and we had just started playing with Steve because Caleb Davis, our former drummer, was moving to Arizona for grad school. My intention with "Orbs" was to create a high-energy and attention-grabbing piece that would introduce this new iteration of the band, since all four members are involved in playing the melody at the beginning of the song. With the sporadic and quirky melody lines, I wanted to interrupt people's conversations and kind of stop them in their tracks when we performed the tune live. In performance, it's always exciting to hear what happens when the band lets loose in the improvised sections. The tune is stylistically grounded in funk, and the jazz-inspired quick side-slipping chromatic chords in the solo sections lead to some interesting options for the soloist. I thought the title "Orbs" embodied the playful and eccentric nature of the music."
From Blain:
"Music, in essence, is a conversational art form. I think the breakdown sections in Orbs, where two players get to interact and conversate with each other as a duo, give an incredible orchestrational counterpoint to the otherwise bombastic nature of the rest of the song! It is such a fun opportunity, in a single song, to both go for broke, and really focus on making whoever you are playing with in the duo sections shine! Honestly, it's a standout moment both live and on the album in my opinion!"
From Christian:
"Orbs is one of my favorites to stretch out on playing live. The juxtaposition of the tight and sparse melodic sections with the dense driving funk sections and epic solo builds always riles up the crowd. I love the way we break up the group into duos to explore different textures and side conversations within the music. We always play the entire song with so much intensity and conviction live, and I'm really glad we caught that spirit in the studio.”
From Steve:
“It’s a kinetic, frenetic little tune that is a lot of fun to play live, always playful in its energy, and always a crowd pleaser. The groove is funky and driving and lends itself to exciting solos.”