Metro Pulse/Music/Eye on the Scene

Inspiring Mouth

Jag Star has hit the big leagues, it seems, and we'd like to think Eye on the Scene helped push them over the edge. The band's lead singer/songwriter, Sarah Lewis, won the overall grand prize in the lucrative U.S.A. Songwriting Competition, which is judged by a number of big-wig labels, including Warner and SONY Music. The winning song, "Mouth," was one of three Jag Star songs in the finals ("Music Box" and "Better Girl" were the other two) from their recent LP, Crazy Place. With its catchy chorus of "I will never miss your mouth," the song is a kiss-off to critics and haters. It includes the following lines: "Do I have to ask permission or am I wrong/ It's a free world baby I can play my song/ Zippy likes to diss, wanna throw my fist/ I will never miss your mouth."

The "Zippy" in question is none other than the cantankerous Zippy McDuff, a frequent contributor who mysteriously disappeared a couple of years ago. (He was a role model that Emma still dearly misses. *Sniff...*) Lewis confirmed earlier this year that that's where the name came from. "The song isn't ABOUT 'Zippy.' That's just one part of the song that is in reference to how ultra-sensitive artists are when they read anything written about themselves," she says.

But, the credit, of course, all goes to Lewis and Jag Star for writing and performing a great song. The award comes with a $50,000 prize. Hopefully, the national recognition will lead to bigger and better things. And, hopefully, Zippy prepared them for the not-always-understanding music press.

Local Review:

When jazz fusion was new in the '70s, it seemed hipper than jazz, but cooler and smarter than rock. Fusion could have the same effect on you that primo weed did. It put everything in perspective.

But then punk came along, and nothing ever went out of style faster. Rockers hated fusion for smoothing rock's necessary hard edges; Jazzbos hated fusion for selling out to rock. Most folks stopped listening to it. But every once in a while, a fusion gem pops up, and if you catch yourself in the right mood, it can seem cool all over again.

Earlier this year, keyboardist Joel Fairstein re-released his 1978 opus, Umbra. It's a curiosity in Knoxville music history, and for several reasons. It's a proficient accomplishment in one style of music Knoxvillians aren't known to be accomplished in. It's nearly the only thing in the file.

This particular recording is a curiosity for a couple of specific reasons: one, because it includes the earliest available recording of R.B. Morris. After his national fame of recent years, nobody thinks of him as a fusion guy. He wasn't then, either. But Fairstein, who sometimes played with Morris in those days, included a signature piece from the years when R.B. fronted the band Shaky Little Finger at the original Longbranch Saloon. Never heard at R.B.'s recent shows, "Let's Go to Frisco" is a hipster blues duet with soulful female vocalist Karen Keith (she was, tragically, murdered a couple of years ago).

The CD may also be the only available recording of the work of David Young, Shaky Little Finger's talented guitarist. Young, who did guitar work on two songs on Umbra, died not long after the LP came out. Finally, on various cuts Umbra also employs some local jazz stars like now-retired saxophonist Jerry Coker, saxman Bill Scarlett, and bassist Rusty Holloway.

To many of us, those personnel details alone may make the CD worth the trouble, but to focus on its curiosities would neglect the fine, smooth musicianship of this mostly instrumental album.

Recorded at the old Thunderhead Studios on 17th, the whole thing sounds professional; it bops, it swings, it even rocks, but coolly. And though except for "Frisco," it's all instrumental, there is variety within the mix. Fairstein, who generally plays synthesizer, opts for piano for the short, quieter piano piece, "Jefferson Street." Some of it could pass for catchy restaurant background music, but the best cuts are ones you might guess were the best cuts on a recording by a better-known jazzy combo. The instrumental cut "TN," in particular: Give it a listen and see if you can explain why Umbra didn't hit the 1978 Billboard charts. But, as you get into the groove of it, injustice stops bothering you too much.

—Emma "I'm no Zippy" Poptart with Joe Tarr and Jack Neely