If you’ve attended parents weekend, alumni events or visited clubs on U Street in the past couple of years, there’s a good chance you’ve already heard them. They’re Zeebop, a local rising jazz trio founded by Gregg Ivers, a professor in the School of Public Affairs, with fellow musicians Mark Caruso and Justin Parrott.
The band has been playing gigs since 2007 and released their first album, “Twisted Standards,” a year ago.
To simply call them a jazz trio doesn’t quite cut it in describing this unique band. Their set list is comprised of jazz classics, but each is rearranged or played with their own unique twist. Playing modern jazz with “heart, soul and a slice of funk” as their slogan says, the music reflects the members’ belief that there aren’t always neatly identifiable genres. The name Zeebop itself is derived from a fusion of Led Zeppelin and Bebop, reflecting the band members’ wide range of musical tastes and preferences.
“You can’t limit yourself,” Ivers said. “I believe there are no boundaries to music.”
While you’re listening to them, you can never be sure when they’ll throw in a little rock or pop, or start sounding particularly bluesy. “Pulse, swing, there’s got to be something that makes your foot tap,” is how they see it. In the end however, they are still undeniably jazz, with Ivers citing such legends as Wes Montgomery and John Coltrane as inspirations.
The trio met while playing as part of a larger blues group in 2006, with Mark Caruso on the guitar, Justin Parrott playing bass, and Ivers on drums. The gig itself was forgettable, but they felt that they had some great chemistry and decided to play together again. None of them had ever played in a jazz band before and they all came from such varying musical backgrounds as blues, pop and rock, but they were united in their love for the genre and were keen on trying it out. In April 2007, after four months of informal meet-ups and garage jam sessions, they officially debuted as Zeebop.
Zeebop started small, playing in public spaces and restaurants for practice and exposure. They were eventually able to catch a break playing at a friend’s bar mitzvah where a local D.C. club owner was impressed enough to hire them to play for a couple of nights. Before long, they were playing three to six shows a month.
Towards the beginning of 2009, a student of Iver’s asked if he was interested in recording an album. The student put him in touch with his friend, a then-sophomore audio communications major named Greg Cornell, who was working on recording and mixing music. That spring, Zeebop sat down in AU’s Katzen Arts Center to record their first CD. “Twisted Standards” was released in September 2009 and was also distributed digitally online.
Ivers said his two jobs aren’t all that much different.
“Life is for living, not compartmentalizing,” he said. “It’s a rush performing for people, just like it never gets old having a student come up and say ‘I enjoyed your class,’ nothing is more satisfying than someone coming up and saying ‘I enjoyed that set.’”
Ivers has some advice to anyone looking to follow their dreams in music: While there is no bullet point formula that one can follow, some things remain universal. Namely, “you got to hustle, be willing to pay your due, walk through kitchens, and get stiffed a couple times.” If nothing else, his journey into the world of music has left Ivers convinced that “once music is in you, it’s something you have to do. Like it or not, this is who we are.”
Zeebop’s “Twisted Standards” can be found on iTunes and Amazon.com. They will also be playing at the Tavern on Nov. 8 at 6 p.m. For more information, visit their website at www.zeebopmusic.com.
thescene@theeagleonline.com
