Metro Pulse/Music/BAND

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What:
Umphrey’s McGee with OM Trio.

When:
Thursday, March 25, 9 PM

Where:
Blue Cats

Cost:
$8 adv., $10 door ($2 surcharge at the door for patrons under 21).

Umphrey’s McGee relies upon the tried and true

by Clint Casey

For a band that relies heavily on improvisation, convincing an audience that musical tangents are composed pieces is somehow idyllic. On a good night, Umphrey’s McGee can do exactly that.

“We had a show review in the Boston Herald that said that we didn’t jam at all. Which is funny, because that night we actually did quite a bit of improv,” says Umphrey’s keyboardist Joel Cummins. “We fooled them into thinking that they were songs.”

The Chicago by way of South Bend, Ind., based band has been growing gradually within the jam-band community since its inception. Formed in the fall of 1997 after a recital held by Cummins, members of the current incarnation were invited to improvise with him after the performance. The outfit evolved into six members, and held its first show in January 1998 mesmerizing crowds with its virtuosity and live collaborations.

Umphrey’s McGee’s audiences anticipate the unexpected and are rewarded with a different musical experience at each performance. Different setlists for every show, occasional cover songs and bizarre stage antics are a trademark. (In the band’s New Year’s Eve 2003 performance, it flawlessly channeled the White Stripes, Stevie Wonder and Van Halen within a span of a few minutes.) “We really just try to make our nights as unique as possible. I think that we would be at each other’s throats if we had to do the same thing every night. We’re fortunate that we have a big repertoire of original music and some covers that we’ll play,” Cummins says. “We put aside 10 to 20 minutes a night strictly for improvisation. A lot of times we’ll even come up with ideas for songs from that. Once in a while you’ll have a bad night, but, more often than not, it’s something that we really enjoy doing.”

Being pigeonholed as a jam band could mean number of things musically. Bluegrass, rock and jazz performers are lumped into the category based on their predilections toward improvisation.

“I think it’s one of those all-encompassing things where it’s more about your approach to music. You could have a bluegrass band like Yonder Mountain String Band that’s fallen into that genre, or maybe something as extreme as [instrumental-rock band] Tortoise...falling into that idea of improvisation,” Cummins says. “The ‘anything can happen live’ kind of spirit can push the show...it’s kind of a mentality.”

Despite the growing number of bands included in the jam-band genre, a sense of community prevails with little competition. “There’s certainly on a musical level, camaraderie between people. Being able to sit in and play with them,” Cummins says. “It’s probably the managers or the booking agents that see it as more of a competition...unless you’re going up against someone in the same town on the same night. We try to avoid situations like that, and try to be more focused on what we’re doing to make each night something that people will enjoy and hopefully remember.”

As the forefathers of improvisational rock, the Grateful Dead unknowingly set up a model that jam bands are inclined to follow. Performers like Phish and Widespread Panic relied heavily upon word of mouth to establish themselves across the country. “[Umphrey’s McGee’s popularity] has been a slow gradual thing.... It’s pretty rare that there are shortcuts to making huge jumps, at least if you’re a band that doesn’t really count on Top 40 radio play to get you there. It’s been a gradual growth, and we’re comfortable with that...as long as it’s headed in the right direction,” Cummins says, laughing.

In contrast to the Grateful Dead, Umphrey’s McGee doesn’t play as frequently as they could, in an effort to keep material from getting stale. “It’s one of those things that’s tried and true. We do things somewhat differently than most bands do. We don’t really have huge tours where you go out and pound yourself into the ground,” Cummins says. “We try to do more week-and-a-half [tours] or weekends where we go out for three or four days. That makes the music a little fresher and gives everyone a little more perspective...and better home life.”

In an effort to spread the band’s music, Umphrey’s McGee allows and even encourages fans to record performances and trade its music. “We’re part of a community that allows people to tape if they want to, and our front of house engineer, Kevin, runs a mix of soundboard rigs and mics. You could walk out with the show, if you want to. It allows people that aren’t in the taping community to enjoy it and play it the next day,” Cummins says. “We have a ton of music that’s available and traded on the Internet through a number of different sources. It’s another avenue that we want to take advantage of and get the word out.”