Tune Thursdays: Transcendental Swing

THE BAND: Transcendental Swing: Next Generation Jazz
ABOUT: This jazz trio’s two-part name holds separate significance; Robin Sherman, bassist,explains the first half: “Transcendental” because they aim to create a “transformative, spiritual experience  for ourselves and the audience.” Brendan Polk, piano, adds that “Swing” was included because “we want our performance to be rooted in swing, the driving rhythmic force of jazz. "Swing" has  its roots all the way back to the music of Africa before it was colonized.”
This tribute to ancient African jazz roots creates layered, soulful songs that may make your soul ache but your feet tap. The trio is rounded out by Ryan Burd on drums. Tracing back their own roots to jazz, Robin remembers first connecting with “A Love Supreme” by John Coltrane: “ I was maybe twelve or thirteen, and had grown up listening to mostly rock music. I immediately connected with the almost reckless intensity of Coltrane's playing, even though what was being played was way over my head. At the time I had no idea that I would become a jazz musician.”
At around the same age, Brendan was listening to Erroll Garner because “the sheer joy and musicality that was being conveyed convinced me that playing jazz was what I wanted to do.” Ryan started enjoying jazz at an even younger age, when he was about 8, because he “was exposed very early to great swing drummers like Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa before I even knew of any other players.” Soon after these interests were sparked, Brendan and Robin met in Jazz Band at Savannah Arts Academy, then Robin and Ryan met at Armstrong Atlantic State University.
However, the threesome didn’t begin performing together until last summer, and they all agree they had instant chemistry. Each still in college, they hope to encourage more people young and old to embrace the classic jazz masters like Duke Ellington and Miles Davis as well as take notice of the current frontrunners like Joshua Redman and Marcus Roberts. When asked what they think are the biggest misconceptions about jazz, Robin recalls a recent conversations with a few strangers about jazz and concluded, “Many of them were familiar mostly with smooth jazz like Kenny G, and while a very popular genre, is generally very adulterated and commercialized, and lacks the profundity, earthiness, and sophistication of the jazz music that I love.”
Brendan added, “People think of kind of cute and sexy music with women dancing in sparkling dresses...but if one listens to a wide variety of jazz, they can see that jazz can encompass a wide range of phenomenon's and emotions. For instance, the light, clear and joyful mood of Oscar Peterson's music is much different than the intense, and abstract mood of much of Sun Ra's music.” Ryan clarifies that so many people act like jazz is “old...but Jazz is pretty young.  It's roots go back pretty far but the art form itself is still in it's infancy.”
In line with helping spread the love of jazz, the trio hopes that the show at Sentient Bean is just the first of a regular jazz night at the Sentient Bean. Robin explains, “I hope that a local jazz musician will be open to possibly running it, only because the three of us are going to college in a couple weeks. It would make me very happy if Jazz Night ended up being a well-loved tradition in Savannah; this is the beginning.”
They urge everyone to come out and support the show and promise to make it worth your while, with Brendan explaining that the first set will be “a fun show, with lots of interaction between the band. They can expect to hear music that will be kind of a creative dance between the three musicians playing...and it will become a bigger dance in the jam session!” Robin hints, “Some local jazz legends are rumored to appear for the second set!” Sounds like a recipe for an epic evening of music that you don’t want to miss.  

SAMPLE SONGS: “Panamanian Ape,” "Guacamole,” “New York Streets”