CD Release - Starsky and Jones

Atlanta is full of jam-friendly bands. They draw audiences that appreciate improvisational music, but not all of those groups are Phish-styled hippies dedicated to ecstatic rock. Case in point: Cadillac Jones, which plays instrumental jazz-funk in the mode of Medeski, Martin and Wood.</
Cadillac Jones formed in 2000 and built its reputation through gigs at venues like the Earl and Smith’s Olde Bar, as well as the occasional jam-band festival. Last November, it was one of the opening acts during Psyche Origami’s three-night party for its then-new album, The Standard, at the Earl. Infamously, Cadillac Jones took the stage on the second night just before police broke up the show due to overcrowding.</
As a result of that disastrous night, however, ATF Records befriended Cadillac Jones. Nearly a year later, the burgeoning record label is releasing the group’s The Big Takedown. “The past year has been focused on putting this album together,” says Gary Kurz, a ’70s soul enthusiast who lends the album its wah-wah guitar licks. Others in Cadillac Jones include Chris Grey on turntables and percussion, Jonathan Lloyd on trombone and percussion, Robbie Nelson on drums and percussion, Robbin Rahman on tenor saxophone, and Hutch Renaud on electric and acoustic bass. Thanks to ATF’s growing currency with indie hip-hop fans around the country, Cadillac Jones will get a chance to reach a new audience more accustomed to beats and breaks than jams and grooves.</
Kurz says the group is extremely proud of The Big Takedown. It’s a soundtrack to an early ’70s crime drama that never existed, with each song detailing a plot point in the “movie.” (Listeners can read the story at www.cadillacjones.com on the site’s “About” page.) Just like the soundtracks from that era, its music ranges from straight-ahead jazz to hard funk. “We’re trying to make it a culmination of all the influences we’ve had and that we’ve brought into this band,” says Kurz.</
Now, after a year mostly spent in the studio recording The Big Takedown, the group plans on hitting the road once again. As Kurz puts it, “If you open the [van] door, and wrappers and bottles don’t fall out, you’re doing something wrong.”</
Cadillac Jones plays Sat., Aug. 19 with Heavy Mojo, Expatriots and Jazz Space + Bass. $8. 8 p.m. The Loft, 1374 W. Peachtree St. 404-885-1365. www.theloftatl.com.