Dean Mucetti and Rhythm Real - Isolate//Integrate
(Orenda Records, 2023)
Southern California is a place of dreams where anything is possible. The funny thing is our perception of that. Drummer and composer Dean Mucetti, when in the high school band, having thoughts about the future, had made a goal of becoming a professional musician.
Mucetti grew up in the new age of music videos, his older sister turning him on to Duran Duran and the band's drummer Roger Taylor, whose polyrhythmic drumming was setting dance music on its ear. From there, Mucetti developed a keen funk jones orbiting the music of James Brown, Bootsy Collins, and Maceo Parker. That all changed when he heard the album Rich Versus Roach (Mercury, 1959). Dean was blown away both by Max Roach’s and Buddy Rich’s playing and became a devotee. He also began listening to more and more jazz. And, looking further back at the music, as well as forward.
Mucetti went on to attend The California Institute of the Arts, becoming involved in a program called the Community Arts Partnership, where students taught drumming and music in community centers in underserved communities. In 2008, Mucetti learned of an opening for a music teacher at a middle school and took the job. Although he was unsure about his future as an educator, his commitment to community service solidified, and he has been there ever since.
In 2015, out of Mucetti's experience came the Rhythm Real, a workshop ensemble for some of his former middle school music students to gain playing experience after graduating. Enter the COVID pandemic, where performing opportunities changed and new modes of expression were developed. Mucetti and his present group elected to focus on composing and recording an album of original material. Rather than trying to think "outside the box" the band was invited to throw the box out the window and proceed without traditional preconceptions.
Mucetti and the band approached their music differently by looking at their work from different angles. They started playing the parts backward, sideways, upside down, or inside out, all with the goal of seeing where it would take them musically. Some of the material they previously developed in live performances would be isolated and eventually integrated into whole new pieces of music.
Inspiration for the original composition came from various sources, loosely employing traditional jazz contrafacts. “Steps West” sprouted from Coltrane’s “Giant Steps.” “Bell Bud” originated from two works, “If I Were a Bell” and Miles Davis’ “Budo.” “Mother Alone” is a ballad reflecting on Mucetti’s mother who was living alone and struggling with the onset of Alzheimer's. The song title “Licking Myself,” which employs looping rhythmic and harmonic structures, refers to the band licking their wounds after the isolation and challenges brought on by the Covid lockdown. “Loose Satin” is very loosely based on “Satin Doll.” “Got Lush,” inspired by “Lush Life,” is built on multiple rhythmic cycles.
All six compositions are based on a seasoned roux of funk which unifies the project. Percussion- and keyboard-driven songs collectively celebrate the funk traditions of James Brown, Parliament, and Earth Wind & Fire. There is a youthful freshness to these performances that indicates kinetic growth in the musicians while highlighting the larger context established in Mucetti's Rhythm Real. This is grassroots change going on to broader recognition.