Crooked Jades

"The Crooked Jades are a force of nature. Provocative, seductive, alluring, and almost unbelievable, their repertoire sits deeply in old-time American tradition while bringing the music solidly into the global 21st century. “This is sepia tones, bent angles, unexpected accents, unanticipated sounds…the antique and the modern.”  - Sing Out

The core trio Jeff Kazor, Lisa Berman, Erik Pearson joined tonight by the amazing Amy Kassir on fiddle from Durham N.C. and multi talented JZ (Joshua Zucker) on Arco bass.

video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkVvEfM5bS8&t=84s

The Crooked Jades continue their mission to re-imagine old-time music for a modern age, while pushing boundaries and blurring categories with their fiery, soulful performances. Innovative, unpredictable and passionate, they bring their driving dance tunes and haunting ballads to rock clubs, festivals, traditional folk venues and concert halls across America and Europe.

The unique and modern sound of The Crooked Jades is created by exploring the roots of Americana and interweaving the diverse musical influences of Europe and Africa. Released to rave reviews, their 2019 recording “Empathy Moves The Water” was their first original album in over 10 years. “Few could make an album as striking as this…the highlights are the originals.” - Sylvie Simmons, Mojo Magazine, March 2019

BAND INFO

The Crooked Jades have released over 10 albums including the recent and acclaimed Empathy Moves the Water.

Other releases include World’s On Fire (featuring a track chosen by Sean Penn for the soundtrack of Oscar-nominated film Into The Wild, Seven Sisters: A Kentucky Portrait – the soundtrack to the award-winning PBS documentary of the same name, and two albums co-produced by alt-country’s Richard Buckner. The Crooked Jades were featured in the KQED television and online program, SPARK which takes the audience inside the creative process to witness the challenges, opportunities and rewards of making art.

Together with choreographer Kate Weare and San Francisco dance company ODC founder and artistic director Brenda Way, The Crooked Jades created “World’s on Fire” presented at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in 2019. The contemporary dance performance paired with the music of The Crooked Jades was received with rave reviews and the band was nominated for an Isadora Duncan Dance Award for outstanding achievement in Music/Sound/Text. The “World’s on Fire” performance evolved from “Bright Land” a 2010 album, live dance and music collaboration with Kate Weare’s New York based contemporary dance company.

The Crooked Jades are known for their rare and obscure repertoire, inspired arrangements and eclectic vintage instrumentation. The band began with Jeff Kazor’s vision to revive the dark and hypnotic sounds of pre-radio music. Filtering these old-world sounds with universal and ancient themes, they seek to make sense of the future, reaffirming the importance of connecting to our shared humanity in this increasingly digital world.

PRAISE FOR THE CROOKED JADES

**** “Few could make an album as striking as this…the highlights are the originals.” - Sylvie Simmons, Mojo Magazine, reviewing “Empathy Moves The Water”

"True to form, The Crooked Jades are alive and thriving and they just may have produced one of the best Americana albums of 2019" - FOLKWorks, reviewing “Empathy Moves The Water”

Writes Bluegrass Unlimited, “Chords in unexpected places, out of this world harmonies, and some of the most powerfully-arranged material I’ve ever encountered.”

“This San Francisco quintet keeps true to their old-time string band heart, yet in subtle, weird ways, they exaggerate the slightly-crazed aura of the rural pre-radio era music. It makes for a haunting, sophisticated trip to Appalachia. Mixing originals and traditional songs flawlessly, this might be the finest band to come out of the string-band resurgence.” - Boston Herald

“The two adjectives that keep coming to me during repeated listenings to The Crooked Jades are profound and transcendent. This is visionary music, forged from the raw materials of old-time forms and instruments. It’s easy to forget that the first old-time music recorded was a mirror of the times the musicians lived in. That was almost 100 years ago. Here, in the beginning of the 21st century, people in appreciable numbers are feeling as though they're teetering on the brink of apocalyptic times. Through the lens of tradition, The Crooked Jades are voicing this feeling convincingly and beautifully.” - The Old-Time Herald

LINKS

Crooked Jades website: http://www.crookedjades.com

Crooked Jades photos for press: http://crookedjades.com/press

Crooked Jades Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crookedjades

Crooked Jades Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crookedjades/

Crooked Jades Twitter: https://twitter.com/CrookedJades

VIDEOS

Stephanie Ate a Woodchuck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQe9PUInl7Q

Going across the Sea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt5ZMFzvleQ

White Face: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qOyi0HU3QE

Write me a letter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTtQwjFSn1w

Just Like Heaven: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tphwqda5n_E

Beautiful World (Devo cover): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKvEvCfDHog

Empathy Moves the Water (album title track): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anwS2YFpsas

Crooked Jades on KQED’s Spark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHlGlFPlAVI