Whose Hat Is This? To Release Everything’s OK on Nov. 16

Article Contributed by The Press House | Published on Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Whose Hat Is This?, a collaboration of Tedeschi Trucks Band members Tim Lefebvre, Tyler “Falcon” Greenwell, J.J. Johnson, and Kebbi Williams, are pleased to announce the release of their second album, Everything’s OK (Featuring Kokayi), set to release on November 16 via Ropeadope. The band combines meteoric musical heights with outlandish grooves. It's free-jazz you can dance to. Cecil Taylor could never say that.

The band’s beginnings are truly organic-- in 2015 the bandmates, while on an European tour with TTB, found themselves with a day off. An impromptu decision to take the stage at A-Trane, a jazz club in Berlin, with no material and no preconditions allowed the then un-named band to explore and stretch out. It was a one-off gig and a total dice-roll. To the band it felt like what happens when God's jello finally sets; some members of the audience threw their clothes (was that a hat ?), others simply had to go home and journal. This was music that needed to be pursued.

Whose Hat Is This? picks up the improvisational gauntlet thrown by the "jam band" scene and goes gonzo, applying rhythmic muscle, experimental funk and wry humor to musical precincts where they are often sorely lacking. Tim Lefebvre on bass brings an eclectic bottom that he's honed with a diverse array of artists from Wayne Krantz to David Bowie ("BLACKSTAR.") The double drum-set attack of Tyler "Falcon" Greenwell (Susan Tedeschi, Col. Bruce Hampton) and J.J. Johnson (John Mayer, Gary Clark Jr.) are the perfect trampoline for Kebbi Williams' tenor saxophone flights. If the sound of four tour-ravaged lunatics playing without-a-net sounds appealing, that’s because it is. If the “Hat” fits, etc. etc.

Luckily for the curious listener, Whose Hat Is This? has captured their genre-defying mayhem live. First on their eponymous, self-released Whose Hat Is This?, recorded that fateful night at Berlin’s A-Trane. Their second effort,Everything’s Ok (Featuring Kokayi) is a scorched-earth set recorded in 2017 at the 8x10 in Baltimore. The new album features the future-voice stylings of Kokayi , and producer/engineer Geoff Stanfield ’s unassailable ear candy.

The band will tour in support of Everything’s Okay (Featuring Kokayi) in October and December of this year with stops in New York and Washington D.C., plus a run of shows down south. What to expect from a live show? Isaac Weeks writing for the Raleigh News & Observer captures the band’s on-stage chemistry best by noting, “While Whose Hat Is This? finds itself slotted into the genre of acid jazz often when it comes to describing the band’s sound, it’s truly a case of trying to categorize something that evolves each night. Electronica, funk, every sound is grist for the mill when it comes to these particular musicians, who are always on the lookout for inspiration before taking the stage to perform.”

For a full tour routing, see below. For more information or to pre-order the record, please visit https://www.whosehatisthis.com or https://ropeadope.com.

On tour:

Sunday, Oct. 14 - Nublu - New York, NY

Saturday, Oct. 20 - Cedar Street Social Club - Mobile, AL

Sunday, Oct. 21 - Gasa Gasa - New Orleans, LA

Monday, Oct. 22 - Chizuko - Pensacola, FL

Tuesday, Oct. 23 - The Nick - Birmingham, AL

Wednesday, Oct. 24 - University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa, AL

Monday, Dec. 17 - The Hamilton - Washington, D.C.

Wednesday, Dec. 19 - The 8x10 -Baltimore, MD

Thursday, Dec. 20 - Rockwood Music Hall (Stage 2) - New York, NY

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