By Andrew Lee
Daily Bruin Contributor
[email protected]
On the phone, Glissando saxophonist Scott Gumbiner told the
story of one of his most memorable experiences with the 3-year-old
San Diego band ““ the time the group was the subject of a
local story by San Diego’s Fox News.
“Once a week Fox 6 News does a story on a local band, and
they decided to do a story on us,” Gumbiner said. “They
wanted to film a video of one of our songs, and when I showed up
(for the performance) the guys were like, “˜okay we’re
all going to film this in our underwear.’ If I knew that I
would have at least worn boxers ““ I was wearing briefs at the
time.
“It was cool in retrospect, but at the time I was just
like, “˜oh, God, that sucked.'”
Off-stage, some of the band members may exhibit hints of
shyness, but on-stage, Glissando’s music leaves no room for
hesitation. The band, which plays with Almost Gone at the Cooperage
tonight at 7 p.m., has built its reputation on the energy and
bombast of their live show.
Gumbiner likes to call Glissando a “structured jam
band,” one that mixes elements of Afro-Cuban jazz and funk
into a lively melange that is equal parts of cool jazzy flow and
intense improvisation.
“Basically, all of us can do solos, but it’s all at
a given time and a given place; it’s definitely thought
out,” Gumbiner said. “But once in a while songs will
stretch out to close to 15 and 20 minutes, especially when the
dance floor is really moving and people are just getting totally
into it.”
Glissando has spent the last few years making its rounds around
Southern California, with San Diego as its base of operations.
Singer, guitarist and primary songwriter Jeff Goodman is currently
attending San Diego State University along with Gumbiner. Goodman
met lead guitarist and recent SDSU graduate Ryan Soliman in a choir
class at school, while Gumbiner and Soliman met while giving
lessons at the local Alan’s Music.
The current official lineup, which consists of these three along
with bassist Jim Tuggey, has been performing together for two
years, and the group just recently released their first full-length
independently, entitled “Musical Revolution.”
The biggest challenge, according to Gumbiner, was trying to
capture the intensity of the live show on tape.
“Normally you’re supposed to lay down the bass and
drums first, then you do the guitars and vocals after that,”
Gumbiner said. “Our engineer suggested doing everything live
in the studio. We did, but it was weird because we were all in our
own little booths and we couldn’t even see each
other.”
Due to the band’s sonic ambitions, the final product ended
up with several overdubs, leading to a more fleshed out sound but
losing the raw intensity that comes with audience interaction.
However, Gumbiner fails to show any sense of supreme
disappointment or discouragement ““ his emphasis on the live
aspect of the band reflects the group’s main priorities. They
continue to perform regularly at San Diego venues like Blind
Melons, Belly Up Tavern and The Redfish Café, steadily
building a fan base in a county better known for its punk
contributions than for its jam bands.
“We’ve been really fortunate,” Gumbiner said.
“For the crowd that’s under 21 I know the punk scene is
pretty popular, but I think once you get the 21-and-up crowd,
it’s not just a bunch of little kids who want to go around
and mosh. They want to go out, dance with some girls, get some
drinks; they want to kick back, relax and just have a good
time.”