Big band hits it big

Innovative, experimental and challenging. These three words aptly describe the music played by the "Monster Zero Orchestra" last Thursday at Bear's Place as part of the Jazz Fables concert series.\n"It's a really original group of musicians," said guitarist Jon Bremen of the 18-piece orchestra. "It really fuses together many different musical styles."\nThe band formed when Berklee College of Music graduate Koven J. Smith, the group's director, composer, and arranger, moved to Indianapolis in 2000.\n"I had a group like that in college, and I really wanted to do something like that again," Smith said.\nThe band started off its first set with "Cut Self Not," a cover song from a band called "Faraquet." The song would be typical of the rest of the music played by the orchestra the entire evening: full of varied passages, different tempos and complex time signatures and highlighted by solid and captivating solos. In this case, Ariel Alexander, saxophone, and B.J. Cord, trumpet, both turned in good solos.\n"Tell Me A Bedtime Story," an old Herbie Hancock number, showcased the rhythm section of the band as the group stretched out in a jazzy groove, while "Roark's Progress" found saxophonist Maria Eisen chiming in for an incredible bluesy solo with guitarist Bremen covering the fretboard of his guitar for his first solo of the evening.\n"Our Usual Day" featured a horns-only arrangement, while set-closer "Memory Machine" sprawled out from a half-time feel and a warm, resonate trumpet solo to inspired chaos, all instruments set for stun.\n"Cecil's Hotel" started the second set, followed by "Booker's Blues," featuring another Bremen solo and some solid grooving on behalf of bassist Joel Kelsey, pianist Drew Scalercio and vibes player Kurt Lubbe, who played drums for this song. The end result prompted director Smith to say, "That kicked ass."\n"Blowback" was introduced as a "very new song," starting off with a lilting bass riff and ending with two good trumpet and trombone solos.\nMonster Zero closed the evening with "Calcinator Death Ray," a song inspired by a movie where a creature tries to kill people with a death ray.\n"That song is based on an old 1950's grade-z science fiction flick called 'Robot Monster,'" Smith said.\nThe song's lilting rhythm and start-stop loud bursts of maddening noise stretched on for over twenty minutes and featured many outstanding solos, pushing and pulling through many different grooves and only occasionally toying with the subdued horn theme and full band freak-outs that opened the song.\n"A lot of these songs I consider to be autobiographical," Smith said. \nEach composition was unique, making the performance truly noteworthy.\n"Its just sort of improvisational music," Smith said. "Its pretty inclusive."\nLook for Monster Zero to play an upcoming show on April 19 at Radio Radio in Indianapolis.