Friday, February 7th 7 p.m. – The Jake Schepps Quintet is an all stringed instruments band. String band music has many forms; folk, jazz, bluegrass, and country. Their ensemble would suggest they are a bluegrass band especially with Jake Schepps himself being a banjo player but their are not limited to any one particular genre and even pull from some unexpected sources.
They played at the Corner Store in South East DC, a nice wholesome art space that specializes in music. Bluegrass music has a strong history in DC going back to the Jimmy Dean hosted television variety show Town and Country Time. It featured artist Patsy Cline, Roy Clark and local talents the Stoneman Family band. Roni Stoneman on banjo was outstanding! She was born in DC in 1934 and also made a number of appearances on the popular television show Hee Haw, she still performs today. So it was great to see a bluegrass inspired concert in DC.
The quintet consists of Jake Schepps, (banjo), Matt Flinner (mandolin), Ryan Drickey (fiddle), Jordan Tice (guitar) and Andrew Small (bass). Bluegrass rhythmically is some of the most exciting music you can listen too. That good ol’ claw hammer style banjo is enough to get anybody on their feet. That isn’t exactly Jake Schepp’s style but he has those elements sprinkled in throughout his set. They really put a focus on composition and have even recorded an entire album of classically composed string band music, An Evening in the Village, the Music of Béla Bartók.
It’s an intriguing concept; Béla Bartók was renowned for his strings compositions but actually derived some of his influences from folk music he gathered traveling recorded on a gramophone. So it’s like Jake Schepps is reintroducing Bartók’s music to its original form. They performed Bartók’s 44 Duos for Two Violins and it was awesome, one of the most enjoyable pieces they performed all night. It was great to see how you can take a classical composition and make it sound like genuine bluegrass. I’ve seen this done before by violinist Mark O’Conner who performs an Appalachia inspired version of Schubert’s Ava Maria.
The Jake Schepps Quintet also played a number of movements from their latest album release Entwined. Entwined overall is a good album; they are definitely some exciting moments when everything comes together. This didn’t always translate the same on stage. They performed the pieces note for note with sheet music and stands; it just didn’t seem natural. They performed Bartók’s music without stringently following the sheet music and it sounded fantastic. For each composition they performed off Entwined they followed the sheet music exactly. Not that it sounded bad it was just a high contrast to songs like Farewell Blues which was performed from memory and had everybody clapping and cheering.
I’ve listened to bands like Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys and also the impeccable Stoneman Family band. It’s great to see how much bluegrass has exploded in recent years. Bands like Mumford and Sons, Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers, The Band Perry, John Reilly and Friends, Rising Appalachia even electronic dance act Avicci, are all examples of bluegrass today. The Jake Schepps Quintet doesn’t fit the mold of any of these acts but are still progressive with their approach to the genre. It will be great to hear what more can be done with this form. It’s well thought out material, I just think they perform better without music stands.
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