Sexmob

For over a quarter-century, the visionary quartet Sexmob has exploded all preconceived notions of what an instrumental jazz band canbe. In many cases — on the albums Dime Grind Palace, Din of Inequity, Solid Sender and Sex Mob Does Bond — they’ve done so withproducer Scotty Hard at the board. On The Hard Way, Sexmob’s remarkable new recording for 2023, the music skews decisivelyelectronic, as Hard’s beats and soundscapes provide slide trumpeter and founder Steven Bernstein, saxophonist Briggan Krauss, bassist Tony Scherr and acoustic/electric drummer Kenny Wollesen all the stimulus they need for further composition and fearless reinvention.

Acclaimed pianist/composer Vijay Iyer guests on “You Can Take a Myth,” sprinkling stark sustained treble tones and abstract harmonieson top of fat processed bass (played by Hard) as the composition unfolds. John Medeski (of Medeski Martin & Wood) underlays organchords and blues phraseology to perfection on “Banacek” and works atmospheric magic with mellotron, counterposing Hard’s evocativebalafon samples, on “Club Pythagorean,” one of two tracks included on the bonus 12-inch 45rpm EP. (The other, “Dominion,” wascreated with DJ Olive).

With each offering, and certainly with The Hard Way and its rich electro-acoustic groove canvas, Bernstein and crew evince amodernizing impulse but also an equally strong foundation in the roots of jazz and American song. Funky, bluesy, with a tattereddissonance conjured up by Krauss’throaty saxophone tone, the distinctive wail of Bernstein’s rare horn and the swagger of Scherr andWollesen’s rhythm section grind, Sexmob continues to chart new paths in 21st -century creative music.