PLAINS TWP. — For the uninformed, “jazz” might call to mind an image of a stodgy, over-intellectual listening to NPR. But that’s not what Muscle Tough is all about.
For them, jazz is a party. And soon, you’ll get a chance to join that party.
On May 18, the Philadelphia-based band will be bringing its unique blend of funk, jam and jazz music to the River Street Jazz Café in Plains Township.
Jonathan Colman, the band’s bassist, says the band’s rich and wild sound will appeal to fans of numerous genres.
“We’ve always tried to keep our fit firmly split between jam stuff and jazz vocabulary,” Colman said.
Colman said the band’s members — which includes Ross Bellenoit on guitar and Joe Baldacci on drums — all studied music in college, which leads to the band’s complex mixture of sounds. Colman said music school involves “digesting a lot of jazz,” but one of the band’s favorite things is the jam music scene.
“We love the festival environment,” Colman said. “We like to think a jam fan will totally flip their lid.”
While the band’s sound might be hard to quantify specifically — the band’s Facebook page calls it “futuristic funk fusion,” but Colman said they jokingly called it “comic book jazz” on their last tour — but its goal is an obvious one: it’s improvisational music designed to get listeners to move their feet.
Muscle Tough is touring on the back of their most recent record, “Modern Romance,” which came out earlier this year. Colman said the album accidentally coalesced into a concept of sorts, as the band just naturally added joke titles that all had to do with romance, leading the album to include songs like “Say Yes to the Mess” and “We Met on Chat Roulette.”
But that isn’t the only music show-goers will hear. Colman said the band has already written new material, and they also love to reinterpret songs from pop artists in their psychedelic sound.
“Someone who’s never heard us will probably turn to their friends and say, ‘Don’t I know this song?’” Colman said.
The band will be playing at the Jazz Café with the Rob Compa Trio, and Colman said the show is a family affair, as Muscle Tough’s Baldacci is married to Compa’s sister.
“He’s literally our brother-in-law,” Colman joked.
Tickets are available at $8 right now through the venue’s website, or will be $12 at the door. Doors open at 8 p.m. that night, with the show starting two hours later.
