Like clockwork every three years, Israel-born, New York City-based jazz/fusion guitarist Oz Noy’s trio comes back to the Funky Biscuit in Boca Raton for early and late shows. And like 2019 and 2022, its Aug. 21 concert featured a different accompanying rhythm section.
In 2019, it was French phenom bassist Hadrien Feraud and longtime Chick Corea drummer Dave Weckl. In 2022, former Yellowjackets and Allan Holdsworth bassist Jimmy Haslip with John McLaughlin and Mike Stern drumming icon Dennis Chambers.
This time, the drummer was longtime Steely Dan band member Keith Carlock. And the bassist was 31-year-old Brad Adam Miller, now residing in his birthplace of New York City after having come of age within the South Florida music scene.
The bassist’s previous experience with Noy included sitting in with his band at the 55 Bar in Greenwich Village; having Noy accept his invitation to be part of his own house ensemble at the Big Apple steakhouse Richie’s, and performing with Noy and Carlock at Beardfest in Hammonton, N.J., on June 26.
As an appropriate disclaimer on Noy’s website states, “It’s jazz — it just doesn’t sound like it.” During the early 6 p.m. show, his trio proved that modern jazz can indeed be created on mostly electric instruments, as Noy and Miller displayed legitimacy amid the rhythmic tapestry of Carlock, the trio’s only acoustic instrumentalist.
The three musicians entered the stage fashionably late at 6:15, with Miller getting the most applause during introductions because of those area associations. The trio then warmed up with “Get Down,” from Noy’s 2006 release Oz Live!. The guitarist’s chimed chordal intro led to a familiar theme for him throughout the 75-minute set — funky Fender Stratocaster rhythm playing. Carlock, an ace at such feels, was the drummer on that very live recording, captured at the Bitter End in New York City in 2002. And Miller’s entry into the dynamic piece, delivered on his Moollon five-string bass, created a bottom end that reverberated through the room.
“Say What?!,” from Noy’s 2005 studio debut Ha!, upped the meter in a similar vein. The guitarist’s crazed figures, while Carlock churned through every part of his Gretsch drum set, approximated James Brown on speed. Educated at the esteemed University of North Texas, Carlock (whose additional credits range from Wayne Krantz and Chris Botti to Sting and John Mayer) achieved great sounds on his kit, with his hands and feet displaying immaculate drum and cymbal technique throughout.
“Brad called me and asked if I wanted to play with him at the Funky Biscuit,” Noy said afterward. “I told him sure, and let him pick the songs. So these are my greatest hits according to Brad.”
“Whole Tone Blues,” from Noy’s 2011 album Twisted Blues — Vol. 1, slowed the pace, the mid-tempo shuffle featuring one of Noy’s signature outside-the-box solos. And the guitarist was just getting started in that regard. A cover of Thelonious Monk’s “Bemsha Swing” went beyond even the version featured on his excellent 2020 release Snapdragon. Aside from the natural gifts displayed through his head and hands, Noy has developed a deserved reputation for what he also does with his feet. After playing a gorgeous intro, his use of effects and looping pedals created a tapestry befitting the tune’s iconoclastic, piano-playing composer.
“Just like Monk wrote it,” Noy said. His tongue was planted firmly in his cheek, but if Monk had been a guitarist, that claim might’ve been spot-on.
“Steroids,” a Noy original featuring Carlock from Oz Live!, then showcased the drummer amid the guitarist’s impeccable rhythm playing and Miller’s 16th-note figures, complete with tempo shifts from first to fifth gear and back. Carlock soloed over a vamp by his bandmates before playing an extended, unaccompanied break. Segueing between thunderous rolls on his floor toms and rim shots on his primary and alternate snare drums, he displayed elements of fellow Steely Dan icon Steve Gadd and The Police’s Stewart Copeland mixed with jazz/fusion luminaries like Weckl and Vinnie Colaiuta.
Noy is also known for his creative choices of cover tunes, and featured Miller via a stately break within the Bonnie Raitt ballad “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” As he did throughout the night, the young bassist held his own among his established elder statesmen bandmates as he embellished Noy’s chimes, effects and the stating of Raitt’s beautiful vocal melody. The chameleonic guitarist, capable of channeling guitar heroes from Link Wray and Prince to Mike Stern and Mark Knopfler, here capably called upon the influence of the latter, Dire Straits’ leader. Another cover, Eddie Harris’ “Freedom Jazz Dance,” unearthed Noy’s cleaner tones and Carlock’s subdivided timekeeping within a spiked funk feel that stoked the 3/4-capacity crowd as the set wound down.
“Thank you, but we have another show,” Noy said. “So we’re going to do one more. I guess this is our encore.”
“Schizophrenic,” the title track from Noy’s 2009 release, left the audience wanting more by spotlighting all three players. The guitarist had saved some of his most searing soloing for last, summoning fire while accompanied just by Carlock midway, before Miler re-entered with unorthodox figures that accentuated both the piece’s title and its funk groove. The two stringed instrumentalists then played repetitive lines, allowing Carlock to flurry between them in a hummingbird fashion few others are capable of.
It was not only a welcome return for Noy and his trio, but for jazz-related music with a backbone to the Funky Biscuit calendar. Recent years have seen the fusion quotient dwindle in favor of “smooth jazz,” essentially instrumental pop music with synthesizers and saxophones, often of the soprano or tenor varieties for their syrupy romantic thematics.
Real jazz is not smooth, making that term an oxymoron. Noy, Miller and Carlock delivered modern jazz that sounded like it.