“The Third Mind: Live Mind” (YepRoc Records)
By Eleni P. Austin
It all started with an idea that occurred more than a decade ago. While reading So What, the Miles Davis biography, Dave Alvin became intrigued by the recording method Miles and his producer, Teo Macero adopted while recording groundbreaking Jazz-Fusion albums like Bitches Brew and Jack Johnson. Essentially, it involved having a group of musicians in the studio all jamming in one key, improvising until they locked into a symbiotic groove. During the editing process, the pair would shape the music into songs. He fantasized about doing the same.
As part of the Los Angeles music firmament for more than four decades. Dave made his bones along with brother Phil, fronting their Roots-Rock combo, The Blasters. Phil was the charismatic frontman, Dave played guitar and wrote the their original songs. Their sound was a gritty amalgam of Blues, Folk, Jazz, Rockabilly and R&B. Dave embarked on a storied solo career in 1987, releasing 13 records, and winning a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 2001. Somehow, he has also managed to find time to occasionally reconnect with his Blasters brethren, as well as record two albums with his brother, Phil and two with Texas legend, Jimmie Dale Gilmore.
Ruminating on his fantasy for nearly a decade, he shared his ambitions with his pal Victor Krummenacher, and the pair decided to throw caution to the wind and give it a go. They began recruiting a wolf-pack of like-minded players, with the goal of bringing this vision to fruition.
Victor is probably best known as bassist and founding member of Camper Van Beethoven, and its offshoot, Monks Of Doom. He’s recorded 10 albums with Camper and seven with Monks Of Doom. He’s also released 10 solo albums and recently joined forces with Portland Indie Rockers, Eyelids.
Dave and Victor quickly enlisted multi-instrumentalist David Immergluck. He has played with several heavy-hitters including Camper Van Beethoven, Counting Crows, Cracker and John Hiatt. He is also an in-demand session player.
Drummer Michael Jerome first gained attention as a member of the ‘90s Alt-Rock band, The Toadies. He’s been pounding his drum kit for legendary British Folk Rocker Richard Thompson since 1999. He’s also played with Blues Harp man Charlie Musselwhite, Neo-Soul progenitor Me’ shell Ndegeocello and Velvet Underground founder, John Cale.
As The Third Mind, their self-titled debut arrived in early 2020, just ahead of the pandemic. The cognoscenti swooned, as did the fans. Their experimental, improvisational sound hopscotched genres, unfurling across six transcendent tracks. Singer-songwriter Jesse Sykes guested on one track, and by the time they began recording a follow-up, she had been formally jumped into the gang. The New York native first made her mark in the band Hominy, but made a more lasting impression fronting Jesse Sykes And The Sweet Hereafter.
Their sophomore effort, succinctly entitled Third Mind 2, was released in late 2023. The five-piece made their live debut at the annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival and then hit the road. Although David Immergluck was unable to tour with the band, virtuoso guitarist Mark Karan (Delaney Bramlett, The Other Ones, RatDog), stepped in to save the day. The aggregate was also augmented by L.A. musical legend Willie Aron (Balancing Act, Thee Holy Brothers) on keys, and Harmonica God Jack Rudy, who has played with Dave, as well as Chris Joyner, Sepultura and Burning Spear. Anyone who saw their shows knew they were witnessing lightning in a bottle. If you missed it, you’re in luck, as they have just released their third long-player, The Third Mind: Live Mind.
The set kicks into gear with “Sally Go Round The Roses.” On the album, they reconfigured this Girl Group one-hit-wonder, originally recorded by The Jaynetts back in 1963. Here, a slithery guitar intro and a hi-hat splash are quickly supplanted by a thunky, Jazz-inflected beat, thrummy bass and iridescent keys. Jesse’s vocals, which land somewhere between Grace Slick’s authoritative contralto and Laura Nyro’s aching mezzo-soprano, are moody and foreboding. As the band slips into a dusty Bolero groove, Mark rips a skronky, staccato solo that threatens to spontaneously combust. When the arrangement turns a corner, congas and bongos are folded in the mix, along with rumbling bass and a wash of keys. Achieving lift-off, they ascend to another astral plane, bookended by a careening, yet concise drum break.
“Doralee” is a Jesse Sykes original that she performed with The Sweet Hereafter. A bit of a bucolic, back-porch ramble, in The Third Mind’s hands it undergoes a musical metamorphosis. Brawny guitar licks intertwine, shadowed by painterly piano, knotty bass and a brooding beat. Jesse’s quavery vocals wrap around downcast lyrics like “Dora Lee, there are flies among the dead now, fish swam free, looking for the ocean moon, you once loved a man whose heart was big and open, he said he could see the beauty in us all.” As the instrumentation builds on the break, the effect is trippy, expansive and concise, atmospheric, dense and detailed.
The Third Mind’s take on The Electric Flag number, “Groovin Is Easy,” jettisons the punchy horns and darting guitars that characterized the original. But as they strip away the bells and whistles, what emerges is a sonic shape-shifter. Hazy keys ebb and flow, matched by wily bass lines, shang-a-lang guitars and a caroming back-beat. Wah-wah guitars wiggle across across the first break, echoing the trademark lyricism of Jerry Garcia. Jesse manages to overcome anachronistic “free-love” lyrics by imbuing faux female-empowerment lines like “You don’t have to keep yourself forever baby, go out and chase whatever you’re craving,” with a gimlet-eyed clarity. As the arrangement accelerates, Mark unleashes a scorching solo buttressed by shivery keys, ascendent bass lines and a pummeling beat. Suddenly, the song has crossed the Rubicon. Wah-wah’d riffs sidle around (Jaco) pastoral bass and a chunky beat building to a stunning crescendo before Jesse brings it all back home.
“Morning Dew,” a song written and sung by Bonnie Dobson, was famously recorded by The Grateful Dead in the mid ‘60s. (A popular part of their live repertoire, they played it in concert more than 250 times). The Third Mind took possession of it on their debut. Live, they further recalibrate this post-apocalyptic Folk song. It still begins tentatively, as willowy acoustic guitar and Willie’s cascading piano notes give way to piquant electric riffs, angular bass and brushed percussion. By the first instrumental break, Mark unspools a muscular guitar salvo, syncing up with Dave, before they pump the brakes and cede the spotlight to back Jesse. Nimble guitars skirt the margins of the melody as the arrangement gathers speed. Just as quickly, time signatures shift and they lock into a sonic maelstrom before powering down on a dime, just ahead of Jesse’s graceful vocal coda. It’s a thrilling performance.
“East West” is the set’s magnum opus. Originally a tensile workout for the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Third Mind took it to dizzying new heights on their debut. Swirly guitars and smokey harmonica, sketch out the melody alongside fluttery organ accents, vroom-y bass lines and a stickity tick-tock beat. Mark immediately uncoils a series of fluid riffs and puckishly quotes Keith Richards’ signature fuzz guitar outro from the Stones’ “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin,” before he really gets down to business. Thumpy bass lines immediately pull focus, connecting with Jack’s greazy harmonica runs and Michael’s sturdy boogaloo. The action briefly slows, allowing Willie to channel his inner-Jimmy Smith, as Victor holds down the low-end and guitars flex and strut.
A second wind takes hold just ahead of the seven-minute mark. As the arrangement back roars to life, Mark and Dave evince a Psychedelic phantasmagoria. By turns squally and swaggering, jagged and sleek. They’re buoyed by pointillist organ, concentric rhythm guitar, sly bass lines and a ticklish beat. And so it goes, ebbing and flowing, guitars down-shift with a courtly grace, the filigreed fretwork adding a bittersweet tinge to the proceedings. Before the final fusillade finishes with a Bluesy harmonica flourish. You might need a post-coital cigarette after this one.
After that stratospheric ascent, the set’s final two songs play it cool. Jangly acoustic riffs tangle with keening electric notes on Fred Neil’s “A Little Bit Of Rain” Burnished piano, loose-limbed bass and a relax-fit shuffle rhythm follow suit. Jesse’s languid vocals thread through the shivery tapestry. Lyrics like “And if I look back, I’ll remember all the good times, warm days filled with sunshine, and just a little bit of rain, just a little bit of rain,” are meant to signal the end of a love affair. But, at this moment in time, it could just as easily be referring to America’s rapid shift from a democracy to a despotic dictatorship. Guitars lattice the break, shimmery one minute, squirrely the next, mirroring the dystopian days to come and our shared melancholy reality. Much as The Third Mind put their stank all over Jesse’s“Doralee,” they close the set by offering their take on The Grateful Dead’s epochal “Dark Star.” Stripping away Robert Hunter’s lyrics, they leap down a labyrinthine rabbit hole. Equal parts meandering and majestic, guitars echo and sway, anchored by prowling bass, flinty keys and a cantilevered beat. A Jazz/Psych/Blues alchemy is achieved as guitars stack synergistically and simply float away on gossamer wings.
Although this album was pieced together from three separate shows, the result is seamless. With this record, Dave and company take the listener on a kaleidoscopic ride. To paraphrase Ralph Waldo Emerson, It’s not so much the destination, as the journey. The ‘getting there’ is every bit as important to me as arriving at the destination. The Third Mind: Live Mind is where it’s at.
