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by rick grant
rickgrant01@comcast.net
Beam’s six piece horn band represents today’s cutting-edge new music – a fusion of jazz, rock, reggae, funk, and hip-hop influences. The band’s wildly popular melding of various musical genres is played by educated professional musicians who are right on the brink of breaking out of the regional scene into national prominence.
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To get my shot of Beam, I visited one of my favorite haunts–Twisted Sisters at Jax Beach where Beam was holding court. The band includes top-tier musicians such as Adonis Boyd on lead vocals, Zach Gilbert on lead guitar, Van Battle on trombone, Dennis Marion on trumpet, Ed Richardson on bass, and Josh Greene on drums. The group’s sound is a gumbo of hot musical sauces – a variety of original music from their soon-to-be released CD, Enough to Blow Up and selected covers.
Beam’s music is defined by the improvised jams on their original material and covers of James Brown, Rick James, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Wood, and Phish. Front man, Adonis Boyd, raps original lyrics about relevant subjects as the band improvises in the background. Indeed, Beam represents the new rap, moving away from profane lyrics, violence against women, gansta’ attitude, and street crime. Boyd’s rap is a quantum leap in sophistication from the down-and-dirty trash rap, which is waning in popularity.
If I was to blend all the elements of my ideal modern ensemble into a bake mix, Beam would come out of the oven. My point is that music must change by using the past influences and adding avant-garde elements to move it forward into innovative new directions. Beam’s fusion of various influences is a perfect example. Genre categories are disappearing as music fuses into new ideas and concepts. Reggae and funk are two important rhythmic influences producing killer grooves as groups experiment with the orchestration.
Experimentation alone is not an ideal path to musical enlightenment, especially when played by inferior musicians who mask their incompetence with flashy shows, such as punk posers and alternative groups that present all flash and no substance. Superior musicianship is the key to true innovation in music. Beam has that covered. The players come from university backgrounds and have the gigging experience to affect true change with musical reinvention.
This musical advancement means nothing if the band can’t reach their audience. Again, Beam communicates directly with their audience, who, individually, may not know why they like the band, but it’s because subconsciously they react to the group’s tight musicianship. In other words, the band plays, the audience reacts favorably, and everyone goes home happy because the excellence of the performance enters the live equation.
The relationship between an audience and a live band is not an exact science, but the members of Beam have strong audience appeal. The horns add another dimension to the orchestration. I’ve always loved horns. Some Latin rap bands include a full horn section as part of the big sound backing up the rap. It gives Latin hip-hop mucho musical integrity.
The bottom line with Beam is that they have all bases covered: advanced musicianship, tight grooves, strong audience reaction, and intelligently conceived original music and covers. Now if they can get this music on college radio stations, Beam’s horizons will expand into infinity. One can get the skinny on Beam at www.myspace.com/beamtrain.
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