"This feisty, independent Seattle-based triumvirate has established a niche for itself on the jam band scene pioneered by Medeski, Martin, & Wood by combining intelligent compositions and arrangements with skillful technique, blast furnace intensity and infectious groove power." -- Bill Milkowski, PULSE!
"Hard-driving, steamy and funky jazz is what Seattle's latest power trio, Living Daylights, is all about... [their] energy level falls somewhere between Nirvana and the Charlie Hunter Quartet.
-Larry Kelp, San Francisco Chronicle & Examiner
Metro Santa Cruz December 3-10, 2003 The Living Daylights
Danger, Will Robinson! Living Daylights have been detected in our orbit. The avant-jazz scene's best-kept secret perpetually reinvents the trio paradigm. Jessica Lurie (sax) , Arne Livingston (bass) and Dale Fanning (drums) can swing with understatement, groove effortlessly in odd time signatures, emitting Coltrane-esque "sheets of sound" and, with the aid of off-the-cuff looping, fill the shoes of a respectably sized orchestra. Sometimes simple, often times inconceivably complex, but always undeniably honest; the Daylights' sound is nothing short of phenomenal. (MES)
Seattle's LIVING DAYLIGHTS features Jessica Lurie (alto/tenor sax, flute) Arne Livingston (electric bass) and Dale Fanning (drums). This explosive jazz trio is one of the most exciting touring jazz groups in the country today, mixing the fun of funk and soul-jazz grooves with the edgy punch and teeth of the avant-garde. They tour nationally and internationally, in festival and clubs, opening for and playing with the likes of John Scofield, Groove Collective, Wayne Shorter, Maceo Parker, Soul Live, Deep Banana Blackout, and many others in the jazz/jam band community. The combination of saxophone, bass and drums presents the audience with a live experience like few others - one moment relaxed and grooving, one moment with a sax attack that will knock you backwards.
LIVING DAYLIGHTS tours extensively in the US and Europe in clubs, universities, and international jazz and "jam band" festivals averaging 120-150 dates annually. The trio was #14 in the "up and coming" category for the 2003 JazzTimes Critics Poll. They have also received the Earshot Jazz Golden Ear Award for Best Northwest Electric Jazz Group (1999, 2000) and received international acclaim for their 3rd CD, Electric Rosary, on Liquid City Records, which features the world renowned guitar work of Bill Frisell and the great production and direction skills of Lee Townsend. In addition to rave reviews in Downbeat Magazine (November 2000) and Billboard Magazine (September 16,2000) they were featured in December 2001 on National Public Radio's All Things Considered, which has been a recurring interview around the US in 2002. The band currently has three releases out on Liquid City Records: Falling Down Laughing (1995), 500 Pound Cat (1998) and Electric Rosary (2000).
The Living Daylights released their new, much anticipated live CD, Night Of The Living Daylights in May, 2003. The new release was recorded live during two nights at the Sit 'N'Spin, Seattle,2002. The disk features 10 previously unrecorded songs, and stellar playing individually and by the whole trio, with special guest Elizabeth Pupo-Walker on percussion. The Living Daylights were chosen as a "Rising Star Electric Group" in Downbeat Magazine's 51st Annual Critic's Poll in July, 2003. Individually, the members of LD are busily working on other projects as of late. Arne Livingston is touring with Steve Kimock, Jessica Lurie is touring America and Europe with The Jessica Lurie Ensemble and The Tiptons (with members of the Billy Tipton Memorial Sax Quartet), and Dale Fanning is playing in Lushus with Bernie Worrel (P-Funk) and Reggie Watts (Maktub), as well as touring with his Kaleidoscope Workshop and with Magdalen Hsu-Li. The Living Daylights toured Europe again in November 2003 and the west coast of America in December. They are planning a new recording for 2004. Please see our website www.livingdaylights.com for updates.
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