Super sonic

Sonic Explorers search for music's possiblities

by Mark Edmonds

Believe me when I tell you that the Sonic Explorers are unheralded geniuses who've been whipping up some of the most delicious fusion this side of Greenwich Village in their four years together. But then, you probably already knew that if you're among the handful of Worcester folks who've been lucky enough to stumble upon the band. Almost from the Leominster-based group's very inception, they've made the Above Club a regular stop on an irregular touring itinerary that includes Slattery's, in Fitchburg, tonight. But that's due to change. The world can't ignore inventive spirits like these guys for long.

Why? I direct you to their self-produced 1995 debut disc, Birth of the Kakalla. It's a listen you'll never tire of. Within its seven tracks, bandleading trumpeter Jerry Sabatini, saxophonist John Vaillancourt, and pianist Joe Parillo lead bassist Thomson Kneeland and drummer Mike Conners through textured compositions that are fascinating in their complexity and surprisingly accessible. "Kakalla," "How Did I Get Here," and "Dance of the Sisters Muse" are spirited and playful, while Kneeland's "The Sinking Ship" and Vaillancourt's "Downtime" present the group's moodier side in brooding scores that stretch out in sweeping passages, where piano lines juxtapose themselves over rumbling bass runs. The horns insert themselves in syrupy fashion throughout, while percussion bubbles away beneath it all. At times, it's almost as if Sun Ra, Bill Evans, and Miles lend themselves to the session through broadcasts from somewhere in the great beyond.

Surprisingly, the disc was recorded only seven months after the band assembled for their first gig -- a headlining spot at the 1995 Burlington, Vermont's Discover Jazz Festival that came only a few weeks after the band's first get-together in Sabatini's basement. He knew Vaillancourt from the Central Massachusetts music scene. Parillo, Conners, and Kneeland (who has since been replaced by Nick Cudahy) were recruited to round out the ensemble. Once united, the five went to work on charts Sabatini and Vaillancort had written for a quartet arrangement.

At the time, it was a tenative line-up, one that had no aspirations other than exploring musical possibilities. Quickly though, that all changed. "Thompson was beginning classes at the New England Conservatory of Music at the same time," Sabatini remembers. "He'd found this magazine article that said the organizers of the Discover were looking for local New England jazz groups to play the event."

The group decided to be one of them. They cobbled together a submissions package (complete with a basement-sessions tape), sent it off, and hoped for the best. As it turned out, the best happened. "They got back to us right away and told us they wanted us to perform," Sabatini says, fondly recalling the experience of being selected to perform and later playing in front of 10,000 people. "It was our first real public performance together, and it went really well. They made us a part of the opening-night's line-up, and we wound up staying there for a week."

In part, it was the fulfillment of a dream. Sabatini, who works by day as an electrical engineer, wanted to play out with his own group for years. Since Discovery, he's become the Explorers' de facto leader, booking gigs and writing new charts, though more out of neccessity. "I'd been waiting for something like this for a long time, and once we got this together, there was no way I was going to let this go."

Recently the group finished eight new tracks for an as-yet untitled sophmore disc that's slated for a May release. Although Sabatini is hard-pressed to describe it, I'm willing to bet that, if it's anything like Birth, it'll be the last we see of the Explorers in small venues for a cheap cover. They can't go on forever undiscovered beyond our own back yard, so my advice is to see them now.

If large-scale success eludes them however, and the Explorers don't get a shot at bigger gigs in the coming year, that'll be alright with Sabatini, too. "I never considered the question of whether this thing was going to make it commercially or not," he says. "I just love to do this, and I'm absolutely sincere about that."

The Sonic Explorers appear at 9 p.m. on March 5 at Slattery's, in Fitchburg. Call (978) 342-8880. The band also appear at 9:30 p.m. on March 7 at CAV, in Providence, Rhode Island. Call (401) 751-9196.