Josh Jones Trio at The Jupiter in Berkeley

Gotta love the east bay...

We went out for a Beer at the Jupiter in Berkeley the other day to check out Josh Jones and his act..

...aka: The Cheetoes... Far more commonly known as The Josh Jones Trio.

Josh was amazing on the traps. This cat grooves!

He is very comfortable around his kit, with speed and grace making things look easy. The trap drummer in me really appreciated such nice left hand technique.. very cool.

I loved the sound of his bells.. looked like JCR's to me, but the cha' was thinner, like a pancake chacha... really sweet sounding....

Josh is a very laid back person, and a well respected musician among players. It's always nice to see such talented people who are so humble. It seems most of the great ones are.

His laid back style on the traps works really well, dynamically. Especially in a such a small venue as the beer gardens on Jupiter.

He has one of the most entertaining latin Jazz combo in the bay, as far as ive seen. He grabs standards in the latin popular tradition and, with the help of a couple heavies on the bass and keys, puts a really tasty and fresh jazz fusion spin on it.

What, no Congas Josh? Please... throw the brothers a bone! ;)

... joking, of course, as they needed nothing, even though Javier Navarette was in the house. He also does larger combo work.

This evening, Josh's combo pulled off, nice and effortlessly, what is not done easily - working as a Trio without sounding thin from time to time.

The man on the keys, (sorry i dont have his name, as of yet) had these Chick Corea, Herby Handcock like licks, cleanly voiced over the thick polyrhythmic groove set by Josh and (bass player to be named later). yes, i should start acting like a journalist...

They all had really nice solo's, with the bass player finding a really comfy spot, and laying down beautiful lines in the last set.

What a nice venue it is there. I highly recommend their Porter, above all of their other beers, as i seemed to have tried them all ;)

Here is a bit off of Lapena.org about Josh:

A force in the Bay Area music scene for over twenty years, Josh is a teacher, a recording artist, and a major player in the Latin jazz movement. Josh has a very progressive cutting edge musical spirit. This gift which is a result of years of intense study combined with the experience of being a child prodigy has given Josh a unique insight into the world of sound. From hip-hop to bebop, soca to swing, Josh has been blessed to tour abroad with musical greats like jazz icon Don Cherry, Steve Coleman, Grammy winner Rebecca Mauleon, Cuban percussion virtuoso Miguel (Anga) Diaz, Omar Sosa, and poet laureate Amiri Baraka.

Be sure to catch his upcoming shows listed on his site. He is a regular performer around the bay.

http://www.joshjonesdrums.com/

Tony