TAMPA BASED JAZZ/ROCK POWER TRIO TRANSCENDS GENRES,
EXPLORING LIMITLESS SONIC POSSIBILITIES
ON THEIR EXPLOSIVE NEW FULL LENGTH RECORDING
‘SOME MUSIC WE MADE’
We may not always be able to live a life without limits—but an explosive new Tampa based jazz/rock power trio is showing us the endless possibilities of how to embrace today, this very moment, like there’s No End of Now.
That provocative moniker perfectly reflects the free flowing, wild musical, groove and sonically expansive conversations that drive Rex Shepherd (guitars), John Tschirhart (bass) and Jason Stander (drums). Together, they create a hard to peg, alternately infectious and trippy, hypnotic vibe that expands and revolutionizes the many genres they draw from—starting with jazz, rock, funk, blues and world music. It’s an ever-evolving aesthetic they share on their new full length recording Some Music We Made, recorded live in two days at Clear Track Studios in Clearwater, Florida.
With this “live in the present” philosophy, where every musical notion is an open door to a new way to think about rock and jazz, the three principals of No End of Now are open to letting their growing legion of fans define the live and recorded experience.
Some dub No End of Now as “hippie Jazz,” others as “psychedelic fusion.” Shepherd’s favorite comparison came from a guy in a bar where they were playing one night: “Robin Trower meets Miles Davis,” a spot on observation considering that Shepherd’s guitar influences range from Trower and Hendrix on the classic rock side to jazz greats Jim Hall and Bill Frisell.
Still others get drawn in beyond the point of no return and are left almost speechless, save for “What the hell was that? That was cool.” With titles like “Meditation on the Occasional Uselessness of a Guitar Pick,” “Lunch With The Departed” and “Soy Mash,” that’s pretty much the norm.
Before moving to Central Florida about a decade ago, Shepherd was a long established musician on the jazz circuit in Cleveland, primarily playing the Telecaster and doing straight ahead jazz. Over the years, he began finding new ways to meld jazz with his foundational love of rock and also began incorporating more exotic sounds from his growing interest in Indian music.
He started gigging heavily around Tampa, where he met and ultimately joined creative forces with Tschirhart, a Detroit native (and fellow enthusiast of both jazz and rock) whose upright bass was in high demand on the local scene. The duo’s chemistry went over well at numerous local venues, from clubs to coffee shops, hookah bars and a hip pizza joint in New Port Richey, where they scored the longest running jazz gig (a year and a half) that the restaurant had ever had.
After a long deserved creative break, Shepherd was inspired to start making music again after the unexpected passings of his grandmother and mother within a six month time span. He began writing some of what he calls “the best music of my life” and called up Tschirhart to see about hooking up again. After six months of searching for the perfect drummer/percussionist, they met Stander, one of the hottest drummers on the Southeast Jam scene thanks to his recording and touring with Worldwide Zoo and Green Sunshine--who blew them away at his audition.
While their ultimate goal is to get on the jam band and festival circuits, No End Of Now has done gigs thus far at several Tampa Bay area clubs including The Roosevelt 2.0, Skipper’s Smokehouse and Mr. Dunderbaks.
“The most exciting thing about having this incredible lineup is our ability to play not only the handful of songs I had previously written out, but also to naturally improvise on the other tracks that didn’t have an initial roadmap,” says Shepherd. “Working with John and Jason gives me a chance to express the edgier side of me that I never got to show when I was playing straight ahead jazz. Our chemistry lies in the listening each of us does, the ability to have the others hear what one of us is doing and then respond to it and take off in unexpected directions.”
Official website: www.noendofnow.com
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