LouLife

When a band’s members come from extremely different musical backgrounds and draw influences from sources just as varied, their collaboration can degenerate into bickering, insults and a muddled sound. For local band Paradigm, however, musical diversity is a strength — it generates music unlike anything else in Louisville.

The four-piece ensemble consists of keyboardist Brian Healey, guitarist Jonathan Epley, bassist Will Roberts and drummer Evan Pouchak, all of whom met as jazz students at the University of Louisville School of Music. On any given night you might see one of them playing a straight-ahead jazz gig around town with other musicians, but when they come together as Paradigm, the tunes can draw from jazz, soul, rock, blues or funk. As renowned jazz professor and performer John La Barbera puts it, "What they’re doing is building on traditional jazz by using forms and styles that bring new listeners into the fold. Rather than push audiences away, I think they t/files/storyimages/to bring audiences in."

Those audiences are often as diverse as the group’s regular venues — the Red Lounge, Gerstle’s Place, The Hideaway Saloon, Qdoba Mexican Grill and Wick’s Pizza — with one common denominator: generally, few gray heads in the crowd. A great place to catch an informal and intimate set is the Red Lounge, where you can hear them play the jazz fusion found on their album, the self–titled Paradigm. The intriguing mix includes funky bass lines, occasional soulful slide guitar from Epley, flowing keyboard rhythms and a few looping themes. It’s a great spot to sit on a couch, close your eyes and be treated to the sounds of young, technically proficient musicians.

Make your way to the Hideaway and you’re likely to find a more raucous crowd and, concordantly, a livelier Paradigm. As Epley says, "If we’re at the Hideaway the crowd is usually a lot more into it, dancing around, and that’s going to make us play a lot more energetically. At the Red Lounge it’s laid-back and we’re more like background music for people, so we’re more experimental, just trying things. When the audience is more involved it really changes the way we play." They usually write out a set list, but rely on cues from the audience and one another to determine how closely they’ll follow it.

If you catch them at the Hideaway, where patrons are generally more attuned to bluegrass, blues, rock or jam-band rock, expect to hear more from those realms — maybe funky, bumping bass lines that mimic the Red Hot Chili Peppers, haunting rock-and-pop keyboard rhythms reminiscent of European super-group Radiohead, or Hendrix-like guitar riffs — all pulled off with ease by well-trained musicians.

Paradigm in performance with sax man Myron Koch.

He received an undergraduate degree from the University of Vermont and last year completed a master’s degree from U of L in piano performance. A big part of the group’s songwriting component, he says that "when I bring in a tune I want to play, I bring the whole thing to the table, with all of the parts figured out in my mind. But I’ve come to accept the fact that everybody has their own taste, and I think it makes for a better overall sound when everyone has input."

Drummer Evan Pouchak sees two kinds of communication at work during rehearsals. One springs from their musical educations, giving them the ability to articulate when and where they want certain phrases in a song. The other is their openness, a willingness to listen to one another’s suggestions. Adds Epley, "When an idea for a song is brought to the group, it ranges from being completely composed and written out, and nothing changed from the original note almost, to just a small concept being built from the ground up."

One member is even bringing in concepts from the world of hip-hop: bassist Will Roberts, the band’s youngest player at 21. As a kid in New Jersey he fooled around with drums, guitar and punk bands, then in middle school switched to bass to join the school’s jazz band. He bought a book and taught himself the instrument he’s now studying at U of L, a strategy that had a few rocky moments. "There are things I wish I had a teacher for, things that took me two or three months and only take me a day to teach my students" during lessons, he says.

"My ideal music would be progressive hip-hop, taking the harmonic approach from jazz, which is the best melodic form of music, and combining it with the best live form of music: hip-hop," he says. Jazz purists might flinch at this "intrusion," but pulling from hip-hop and other genres enjoyed by younger listeners brings Paradigm a different audience.

"I think some of their popularity comes from their youth and what really creeps into their music," La Barbera says. "If I purported to pull the same thing off, at my age, it would be phony, but they’re out in the culture, listening to the same things as their peers." This ability to incorporate popular sounds with the more technical elements of jazz broadens their appeal, yet Paradigm isn’t too experimental for more conservative listeners.

Guitarist Jonathan Epley, 22, learned the same style as nearly every instrumentalist from eastern Tennessee: bluegrass. Born into a musical family in the Appalachian town of Greeneville, he started with guitar in middle school, playing rhythm to his mother’s banjo and then switching to blues lead guitar.

Since arriving at U of L he has immersed himself in jazz, perfecting his technique and staunchly refuting those who would label him a "jam-band guitarist." He is the other major songwriter for the group and suggests that being in Paradigm has broadened the horizons of what he will experiment with musically. However, he notes, "I’m the Nazi of the group. If someone plays something I don’t like, I have no problem telling them right then and there. But I think I keep everyone centered."

While growing up in Averill Park, N. Y., Pouchak was exposed to various instruments, eventually settling on the drums. He initially taught himself to play by jamming along to CDs or the radio. Then he plateaued, until he started formal lessons from a jazz teacher in high school. One summer he attended the esteemed Skidmore Jazz Institute, where he met La Barbera, who advised him to check out U of L’s program. He liked what he saw. "It was nice to get away from the whole upstate New York thing, which is very static," the 23-year-old says. "Not much leaves, not much comes in, so it’s nice to be in a city — to be in and around things as they’re happening, without the intimidation of going to a place like New York City."

The band formed about three years ago, playing mostly funk and soul. Dropping and adding a few members along the way, Paradigm developed its current progressive sound, which its members have been playing for a little over a year. Their formation is a nod to the University of Louisville and its power to bring in top talent for programs like the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshop (which runs this year from June 30-July 15) and the music school. That power lies in the size of the program, which allows for constant individual attention, according to La Barbera. Some players also find a great outlet in the community at the Jazz Factory, whose owner, Ken Shapero, donates to the U of L program and allows students to play in his club on occasion. They’re also welcome for jam sessions there.

While each member of Paradigm is strong musically on his own, they’ve achieved an accessible sound together. In a way, they’re searching for a musical paradigm with tools gathered through varied backgrounds, formal training and a lot of hard work. Whether the group stays together or splits up on different journeys, it’s hard not to expect exciting things from these four young musical explorers.