1-800-WOLF! Is latest recording from a band that almost didn’t exist. The group, which features guitarist Scott Metzger, bassist John Shaw, and drummer Taylor Floreth, is a jazz trio of sorts. They play instrumental music, but it is hardly jazz in usual sense of the word.
The band got their start when a singer (who is not to be named) failed to show up for a gig in Brooklyn, New York. The musicians, who never actually considered themselves a band, soldiered on and improvised a set of music on the spot.
The result was a new band that is as fascinating as their unlikely origins. The music veers around widely among genres while keeping a sideman ethic among the members who all broke into the competitive scene in New York backing up other artists.
Though Metzger is the ostensible leader as the guitarist in a trio, their goal is to play without ego while honing their interpersonal musical telepathy. The result is a collection of songs that emphasize texture and atmosphere. The spaces in between the notes are as important as the notes themselves.
With the exception of one cut, the songs on the album were created on stage and then recreated in the studio with minimal adornment. There’s a lot going on in each individual song whether the band is playing a tune that wouldn’t be out of place on a 1950s R&B station or a psychedelic soul program. One song echoes “Blue Bayou,” and I thought for was sure it was a cover of the Roy Orbison classic until I looked at the song list.
Metzger notes that they have become less focused on guitar solos per se and it shows up in the compositions. He said, “I’m not thinking, ‘OK, I’m gonna solo now.’ It’s more like, ‘Let me compose a cool part for where the solo would traditionally go.’”
That about sums it up. But like everything about the music of WOLF!, there’s more to it—a lot more.
