TVBC is an instrumental trio with bass, drums and a guitar. Despite the
traditional rock set up, the combo mixes a jazz mentality with the aggression
and volume of rock-and all the while sounding like neither.
gone was recorded eight years ago at the height of TVBC's popularity. The
trio preferred to play only a handful of times a year. Almost without
exception, however, these shows were sold out-and on occasion would last
for hours. gone resurrects these songs-finally-and in spite of the
oft-stilting environment of a studio, they come across alive and well.
The compositions on gone are full of calculation; calculated time
signatures, jazz and modal scales, arrangements, loudness - both in volume
and presentation. This is not akin to sterility, but rather to the calculation of
a bee's hive-full of fury and respect, metaphysics and physics, need and duty.
Mix this calculation with the spontaneity of improvisation: “Gandhi's”
patient trip into chaos is full of improvisations, both melodic and rhythmic;
“Seven Eight” likewise rides on spontaneous inklings; “Snakefinger” both
pays respect to the late Philip Lithman's mind and acts out on thoughts of its
own. In short, like the band's mix of jazz and rock derivations, gone mixes
calculation with improvisation and winds up showing neither hand.
In 2000, TVBC reformed with new bassist Scott Evans. Then, on February
22, 2002, TVBC reinserted themselves into the public scene with their first
show in eight years. That night, five hundred people came to the Turf Club
to see a band that had seemingly vanished in 1994. The music that, by all
accounts, was a frenetic presentation of jazz and rock, calculation and
improvisation-it was TVBC.