Anyone who's taken Black Music History 101 during his or her college tenure knows the New Orleans brass bands' importance to the development of jazz. Tracing the evolution of those ensembles from leaders of funeral processions to whorehouse accompanists to their ultimate destination up the Mississippi River is the cornerstone from which any understanding of post-Depression Era music is derived. From there, any number of paths are possible-- with the right map you can get to John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix or Jay-Z-- but without that foundation there's little chance of meaningful academic travel, not to mention bagging anything higher than a C.
Too didactic? Probably, but that's what listening to Madison, Wisconsin's Youngblood Brass Band is like-- not only do they prefigure that people don't know anything about the history of Black Music and the links between jazz and hip-hop, but they also assume that folks don't know much of anything at all. Maybe it's a result of the band members' doubling as teachers in their spare time, but I can't help but feel beat over the head with a social justice/"know your history" party line that's far more elaborate than the music itself.
Youngblood Brass Band is nine players strong, but two of them can be held accountable for the one-dimensional mess that is Center:Level:Roar: composer/sousaphonist Nat McIntosh and emcee/snare-drummer David Henzie-Skogen. McIntosh's charts admirably attempt to erode the lines separating big band polyphony and breakbeat rhythm, but his lack of compositional dynamics causes the band to blare along at a brutal decibel level-- a sound that's way more Maynard Ferguson than Stetsasonic. In fact, the only track on the entire disc that makes me rethink my initial impulse to send them a complimentary case of Harmon mutes is the instrumental "Nate McCavish Handbills for No Man", where the Youngblood horns do a striking IDM impersonation with the help of some electronic effects.
McIntosh's weaknesses might be open to rehabilitation, but Henzie-Skogen's rapping is just downright inexcusable. Where the strides made by underground hip-hop have opened up any number of possibilities for non-traditional flows, cadences and lyrical approaches, Henzie-Skogen doesn't even measure up under that expanded criteria. When not shouting out distorted song titles Zack de la Rocha-style ("The Movement", "Avalanche"), he's playing the social consciousness card with all the skills of a poor man's Talib Kweli-- who, incidentally, guests on a recent non-album Youngbloods single to prove that not even a top-notch emcee can lead them to the next level. But where Kweli backs up his bold observations with one of the best voices in contemporary hip-hop, Henzie-Skogen is all words and no tone; a combination that's bound to alienate more potential sympathizers to the cause than it recruits.
I really do wish these guys had pulled this together more successfully, because, in theory, I still think it's a good idea that could withstand further exploration, especially since The Roots have almost entirely abandoned the jazzbo tip from whence they came. But the Youngbloods' good intentions are beyond compromised for now by a limited vision that effectively reduces them to a high school pep band trying to be down with the hip-hop kids-- only to reveal themselves for the cheerleaders they truly are.
