Lovely Socialite at Café Coda

While the members of the groovy Madison-born jazz-rock sextet Lovely Socialite are now split between a few Midwestern cities, they congregate again here for a spirited release show for a new LP, The Drift, the band’s first in over six years. It follows on the heels of a trio of Lovely Socialites series of Quarantine Loops EPs, sourced from remotely produced experiments and collaborations with electronic artists including John Praw and Chants. This Café Coda show also marks the 10th anniversary celebration of the band’s self-released debut, the punny Registers Her Delight.

Across nine complex compositions by most of the band’s members—trombonist Corey Murphy, bassist Ben Willis, cellist and guitarist Pat Reinholz, and cellist and pipa player Brian Grimm—The Drift dabbles in more overt spiritual jazz influences while holding onto the familiar sonic allusions to Jaga Jazzist and Sleep Dirt-era Zappa. And it results in Lovely Socialite’s most lavishly crafted and thrillingly cinematic work to date.

Take the innovative interplay of Mike Koszewski’s hip-hop-flavored percussion with Abe Sorber’s lithe vibraphone, Grimm’s pipa, and Murphy’s trombone on the former half of “Top Secret Jazz,” a sleuthy-sounding theme for a cartoon noir, which accelerates and tumbles into the bass-heavy sounds of a foot chase by its end. The prior piece, “Wrapped In Tentacles,” is a cello-led nautical anthem for a sinking ship, or one in mutant octopi peril of the high seas, and it’s maybe the closest thing the band’s ever written to Rock In Opposition, like a spiritual successor to Henry Cow’s Western Culture.

But one thing hasn’t changed, and that’s Lovely Socialite generously serving up some of the most memorable instrumental tunes in the oddest time signatures. —Grant Phipps