The Hub and Squall
The Prague Pill,Prague, Czech Republic,October 18, 2002

By Jeremy Hurewitz

When it comes to the expression of complex musical ideas, few genres can touch jazz for its range of possibilities.

The newest of these possibilities is a New York-based movement called “dirty jazz.” Inspired by John Zorn’s Naked City albums and Sex Mob’s deconstructions of pop songs, dirty jazz is a uniquely postmodern bouillabaisse of disparate influences that maintains the disciplines and ethos of jazz at its core. Sex Mob played Akropolis about a year ago and Zorn visits Prague on occasion, but the New York trio The Hub has been the most active force in bringing dirty jazz to Europe.

The trio, composed of Sean Noonan on drums, Dan Magay on Saxophone and Tim Dahl on Bass, has been called “awesome and unforgettable” (The New York Post) and “their strikingly sharp and fresh” sound “unlike any in the new millennium” (The Boston Globe). The Hub has toured Europe twelve times since their inception in 1995, and this month’s Prague stop marks the band’s sixth visit. A typically memorable and bizarre show at the touristy Jazz Club Zelezná last year was marked by a dozen shocked Germans walking out after the first few loud and dissonant notes, leaving Prague music fans scampering into the newly vacated seats.

Last year, their tenth European tour got off to an ominous start when Noonan broke his hand on their manager’s face and was forced to play the entire tour one-handed. When a drunken Norwegian tourist in Prague virtually assaulted Noonan mid-song with a request for “Happy Birthday,” the drummer was able to hold down the complicated rhythm and single-handedly dispatch the lout without missing a beat.

The Hub’s current two-month, 12-city European tour is in support of their third album, Trucker. The album is their first venture to be distributed in conjunction with the label Innova Records, affiliated with the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts. Noonan describes the album as a part of the band’s continuing efforts to “explore elements of jazz, punk, new wave, metal, funk and freeform improvisation.”

The band is heavily influenced by avant-garde composer Charles Ives, a reclusive insurance salesman who wrote some of the most progressive and brilliant music of the early 20th century. The Hub fuses Ives’ explorations of dissonance and aural counter-points with the energy of speed-metal act Slayer and Japanese noise rockers Melt Banana. But the backbone of the music remains jazz, and in their music you can hear elements of such giants as Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard and Miles Davis.

This time The Hub is joining forces with local indie heroes Squall at the hole-in-the-wall venue Belzepub. The combination of these two bands promises to be one of the most exciting and intimate music nights in Prague this fall. The show will mark the halfway mark on the Hub’s current tour and should see them at the height of their energy. Squall will be gathering steam for their first European tour this November in support of their acclaimed album, How Things Work. A strict music curfew means that the music must end at 10, so the show will start promptly at 8 p.m.

As in all good revolutions, those at the frontlines of vanguard music movements aren’t always pretty, but they are always remembered. Don’t miss this unusual music event.

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