// STREAM //

For jazz that’s both rhythmically adventurous and warmly welcoming, Vancouver Island’s hard.times delivers. “Clean Dancing” is the first single from the four-piece ensemble, and the first in a new jazz-focused series by Inner Ocean Records. Whether for focus or for fun, this is jazz that meets you wherever you are, always with a friendly face. 

hard.times is Matt Aasen (guitar), Rob Elo (keyboards), Steven Taddei (bass), and Jesse McNeill (Drums); musicians with a serious passion for rhythm. Combining backgrounds in jazz, pop, soul/rnb, and progressive metal, the group’s sound is a foray into the often electronically-generated quintuplet swing. While much of the music in the genre of experimental jazz fusion can alienate audiences with free-time or atonal harmony, the goal of hard.times is to create music that’s rhythmically complex and experimental, but presented with familiar chords and a tight groove that’s easy to understand and enjoy.