Listening To…
The Electric Rosary album of the Seattle jazz/funk trio The Living Daylights. They’re comprised of a drummer, bass and saxophone. We heard them last Saturday night at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard, where they played two high-energy sets. We first encountered them about 4 years ago, and seldom miss a chance to see them. We first saw their sax player, Jessica Lurie, as a member of the Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet at Bumbershoot. Later, my wife heard a cut from Living Daylights’ 500-pound Cat album on KCMU (now KEXP) and remembered her. We bought the CD and got to see them live a bit later at the Break Room (now Chop Suey), and were hooked. Jessica probably weighs 110 pounds soaking wet, but plays alto and tenor sax with a huge sound. The drummer appears to be borderline ADD, and bears striking resemblance to the Muppets’ drummer “Animal”.
They toured pretty hard for a couple years trying to break into the next level, including teaming with Bill Frisell on Rosary (not a particularly good match - he doesn’t have their energy, and basically just couldn’t keep up), but it seems they’ve given up on it now, and only appear together every couple months or so. Catch them if you can - they’re a real treat.
