Bayou Born, Rock and Roll Raised

Jai Alai’s Musical Gumbo Boils Down Jazzy Rock

originally published April 9, 2003

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If you think there isn't a college music scene bubbling underneath the beads and boobs of New Orleans, well ... you're right. The French Quarter (not yet the Freedom Quarter, but give it time...) hosts tons of college students every year for Mardi Gras, but most of them aren't there to pensively nod to atmospheric slow jams. However, it's not all parades and crawfish; the fact that both Anne Rice and Trent Reznor live in The Big Easy points to a darker - but maybe a little too dark for arty rock musicians – N'awlins. You'd never know from the music, but Jai Alai calls New Orleans home.

"It's a weird town because when people go see music here, they go to see a genre of music," says singer-bassist Jake Springfield. "They don't care who it is." Unfortunately, not too many people in New Orleans want to go see jazzy post-rock most nights, and though clubs occasionally book indie shows, they don't pay the bills. And because most clubs in New Orleans don't charge a cover, it's tough for a band to make good money. As Springfield puts it, "I tell most bands, 'Play here to see New Orleans, play Baton Rouge to get paid.'"

Springfield, a former high school history teacher, is the only constant member of Jai Alai, which explains why most of the melody in the band's songs comes from the low end. The current lineup of Jai Alai includes Adam Kennedy on guitar, Mike Hurley on drums, and John Paul Shaffer ("He was born to rock with that name," says Springfield) on guitar and keyboards. Springfield thinks Jai Alai's personnel is pretty stable at this point, and he feels the bandmembers work well together to subvert their own expectations. "If I come in playing some kind of Tortoise-y bassline, Mike will come in with a South African drumbeat, which takes away from what people would expect," he says.

Pretension comes standard with many post-rock bands, but the guys in Jai Alai don’t think they’re better than you.

The band's sound would fit nicely in Chicago, where soothing jazz-flavored music thrives. Imagine The Sea and Cake's slower instrumental passages mined for deeper meaning. Aside from Springfield, all of the members of Jai Alai have had extensive formal study in jazz, among other styles. Kennedy plans to travel to Africa after the band's tour to study the kora, an African instrument, and part-time percussionist Dave Greengold leads a traditional Cuban band in New Orleans. And though Springfield studied some jazz in high school, he considers himself the indie rocker of the band. "The rest of the guys would be offended if someone called me a jazz guy," he says.

The band's first record, Drive Safe, comes out next month on SunSeaSky records. Springfield recorded the album at his digital home studio, which he was able to pay for with insurance money after Jai Alai's tour van got stolen. Unlike some of its more instrumentally-minded peers, Jai Alai establishes a general rhythm for Drive Safe in the song lengths, squeezing a few longer compositions between shorter songs that some bands would have diluted by dragging them out for 10 minutes. The album won't technically be out when the band gets to Athens, but there'll be copies available at the show.

Pretension comes standard with many post-rock bands, but the guys in Jai Alai don't think they're better than you. This tour may feature a Michael Jackson cover among others, so you might have to get your hands out of your pockets and start dancing. Then, at the end of the night, grab that special someone and slow dance, Jai Alai-style.

Sam Gunn

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