The Philadelphia Experiment

The Philadelphia Experiment is a funky jazz trio comprised of drummer Questlove of The Roots, bassist Christian McBride, and pianist Uri Caine.  Their music uses Questlove's tight, simple beats, similar to those he might play with the Roots, but applies them to a jazz context.  Their only release, the self-titled album The Philadelphia Experiment, is a great listen all the way through.  The three main musicians are all from Philadelphia, hence the album's name, but they all bring their own completely different styles into the music.  For instance, Caine generally plays either classical music or a phrentic, avante-garde style of jazz and Questlove comes from a hip-hop background.  McBride plays a lot of straight ahead jazz, but is an extremely versatile musician, who can play convincingly in the funk, classical, and pop genres as well.  Aside from recording with many jazz legends, he has played with the likes of James Brown, Sting, and Carly Simon.

The fusion of musical backgrounds seems like an unlikely, and perhaps strange combination, but the product is a great album.  Uri Caine uses his technique to take interesting solos, while the core of the band, McBride and Questlove, lay down grooves that you can't resist tapping your feet to.  However, though the group features John Swana on trumpet and guitarist Pat Martino on a few tracks, it would be nice to hear horn solos more frequently throughout the album.  Caine does a great job holding it down on the melodic and solo front and it's difficult for me to complain about anything regarding this album, but a little more variation might sound cool.  I think that a sax player would add a particularly nice sound to the group if they were to produce another release.

My favorite tracks on The Philadelphia Experiment are probably "Ain't it the Truth," "Call For All Demons," and "Ile Ife."  The whole album is solid though, and represents a wide range of jazzy and funky styles from shuffle to jazz/hip-hop fusion.  I would love the group to come out with a new release, but I'm not sure if they are intending to do so. However, though I don't know very much about Uri Caine, there is plenty of great music to check out from Christian McBride and Questlove.  I mainly enjoy Questlove's work with The Roots, particularly on the albums Things Fall Apart and How I Got Over.  McBride has some cool solo releases, including Number Two Express and Live at the Tonic.  I also really enjoy his playing with Chick Corea on the album Five Peace Band, which also features John McLaughlin, Kenny Garrett, and Vinnie Colaiuta.  The Philadelphia Experiment is an awesome collaboration, with individual musicians that work together perfectly.