Host Chris Cooke interviews group co-leader/guitarist Steve GrismoreBy Chris Cooke
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/national/local-national-525893.mp3
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Omaha, Nebraska – Exploring the frontiers of Jazz with confidence, the Grismore/Scea group has released a new recording entitled Well Behaved Fish. It is a must buy for fans of today?s progressive jazz scene.
A program of mostly originals, the record is kicked off by one cover, an upbeat, electrified reading of Ornette Coleman's Dancing in Your Head.
The record progresses through the Middle-Eastern textures of the timely Baghdad, the starkly dissonant Crush, the electro-funk driven Well Behaved Fish, and the more traditionally groove oriented Good God. The Grismore/Scea group?s original sound and expert approach fuses melody and dissonance together to produce a record at the cutting edge-and one of the best progressive jazz recordings of the last several years. The Grismore/Scea group is co-lead by Steve Grismore on guitar/guitar synthesizer and Paul Scea on saxophones/flute/wind controller.
The group also includes Brent Sandy on trumpet, Anthony Cox on bass, and Marc Gratama on drums/synth drums.
Group co-leaders Steve Grismore and Paul Scea are also educators, Grismore at Augustana College and the University of Iowa and Scea at West Virginia University. While they have never lived in the large cities known for being hubs of jazz music, the co-leaders of the Grismore/Scea group have made a series of recordings that can hold their own with the best-played and freshest progressive jazz anywhere. This is a band that deserves much wider recognition.
Chris Cooke sat down with Steve Grismore for an interview this summer at the Iowa City Jazz Festival (where Grismore served as the musical director).
Chris Cooke is the host of Jazz in the Afternoon and Last Call on KIOS-FM. The interview was edited by Mike Hansen, Recording Engineer/KIOS.