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THE HOLLYWOOD SQUARETET Nice Tets (Roulade Records CD)

"Welcome to the Fuck You Lounge!" Thus spake, Larry Copcar, drummer/ranter with the Hollywood Squaretet. Cheap cigars in old-man bars. The persecution of Kobe Bryant. And you really believe this dude when he tells you, "I pissed on the steps of my childhood home." (CYMBAL CRASH!) Sunny Murray vs. Don Rickles--both stuck inside the head of one crazed Italian-American. Larry played in the garage-rockin' Bougalieu in the late 60s, then spent much of the late 70s playing with lounge bands and writing for big-time comedians. He hung with Sam Kinison's crew, and even played drums in Kinison's Outlaw Band. He has also spent time doing stand-up himself. He's featured in the cult favorite COMEDY'S DIRTIEST DOZEN along with future legends like Bill Hicks and Chris Rock.

On saxophones is Kenny Kawamura. The guy has a kind of quiet rage that sneaks up on you. He starts winding the notes around inside your head, and before you know it, you're in the midst of a ferocious storm of sound. It's not an easy task to keep blasting the cobwebs off fifty years of supposed jazz "freedom." Fortunately for our ears, he's up to the task--and more. Kenny has been involved in projects like Fellaheen, Beekeeper, and Chic Empowerment Center, as well as playing on indie-film soundtracks as a multi-instrumentalist.

And there's Todd Homer on the upright bass. It's an instrument made for a man, not mere kids. In the late 70s and the 80s, when Todd was still a bit of a kid, he played in the legendary L.A. punk band the Angry Samoans. He later did a handful of great modern psychedelic records with Larry Robinson as the Mooseheart Faith Stellar Groove Band. With the Squaretet, Todd returned to his life-long obsession with the outside areas of jazz. And he knows his shit. He can groove, and he can walk the dog, and dig when he pulls out that bow to saw through spooked-out sections of space jazz. Punk + jazz = REAL FREEDOM!

Speaking of punk, over on the right side of the stage is guitarist Joe Baiza. Working with Saccharine Trust in the early 80s, he was one of the early bridges between L.A. hardcore and free jazz. He later headed groups like Universal Congress Of and the Melodiacs, as well as touring with Mike Watt's band. It makes a lot of sense that he's now playing the Squaretet, adding much flavor to the staggering cynicism of the Copcar/Homer rhythm section, and balancing out the more delicate force of Kenny Kawamura's sax. Listen to this cat "spazz" that guitar like its strings are made of pure liquid LSD! Goooone!

Mostly recorded live at Mr. T's Bowl in L.A., NICE TETS is even wilder than TET OFFENSIVE, their debut disc on Gulcher Records. The tension's higher and the playing's more focused. Plus they now have Baiza on board for the ride. The nine tracks on this new one clock in at a generous 52 minutes. And it never gets boring!

Lester Bangs pointed out the connections between punk and jazz waybackwhen, but at that point most of its obvious practitioners were young New York nihilists. Well, here's a weather-beaten but more mature stab at the same heart--the intensity ragged and still beating very hard! And yeah, they're from L. fuckin' A., not "downtown" NYC. So were Mingus and Dolphy, right? It's an old joke, and I tell it every time, but uh, why'd Albert Ayler cross the road? To get to the OTHER SIDE, motherfucker! Welcome to the Fuck You Lounge, suckers! Wail, daddies----!!! --Crawlin' Ed Flowers, slippytown.com