The day is finally upon us. After five years, relocations and re-relocations, and the type of budget overruns that would make Pentagon accountants blush (well, not really), the Rocket Number Nine record is finally retail-ready! Or should I say the Rocket Number Nine Zoom Zoom Up record is ready. Those of you who are familiar with the group may remember us simply as Rocket Number Nine, but while preparing the artwork for the record we noticed that an English group had begun using the name and just to avoid the issue completely, we added the “Zoom Zoom Up“. Maybe we are pushovers, or maybe we just couldn’t stand the thought of hiring a lawyer to deal with yet another issue.
 
Just to give you a brief history of the project, we formed as a Jazz trio in 2000 and rehearsed and gigged profusely. We spent hours at a time, several times a week at Monty’s mom’s house, trudging through elaborate and tedious material only to be reworked the same night on the gig. We played at some nice places and a bunch of crapholes! The best were on campuses at Universities and to a lesser degree, coffee shops. But we played in dives, parking lots, lake docks and hamburger stands. We had the goal of getting our material real tight and making a record. I thought that it would be amazing to get someone like John McEntire to record us. At the time he was on the cover of Wire magazine for the work he had done with Stereolab, Tortoise, Isotope 217, The Sea and Cake, Chicago Underground, Smog, Gastr del Sol, Trans Am, and The Aluminum Group to name a few. This was the music that I was really into and what eventually led me to move to Chicago, but I sent McEntire a three-song demo that we recorded on my four track as a long shot to see if he would be interested in recording the band. I had just read in the Wire that he was too busy to take on any new projects, but we either struck a chord with him, or caught him at a moment when he needed work and he said he would do it. So we packed up Andy’s station wagon and headed up to Chicago for a week.
 
Since we were so well rehearsed, we did all the tracking in two days, which left us five to mix. McEntire was pretty quiet during tracking. It was hard to tell if he was even into the music that much. After takes, we would ask him how it sounded in the booth, and his replies were like “very similar to what you heard in the headphones.” It makes sense to me now because he didn’t know what we were capable of or even what the songs were like except for the few demos that I sent him. But during mixdown, he really shined. He took the sounds and gave them color and depth. Certainly not the tones you would find in contemporary jazz and for that matter in classic jazz either. It didn’t sound forced or uneven, it just began taking shape. After repeated listening, I think the recording is simple and pure. He just elevated our voices and served them to the listener on a warm fuzzy platter with a side of Chicago art-rock as relish. McEntire is a quiet guy but very talented and generous and by the end of the week he felt like a partner and friend.
 
Fast forward a few years and several attempts to get the record released. I moved to Chicago and got very involved in projects around the city (Ambivert, Branches) and one that led me to work in Seattle (Fruit Bats). Monty became busy with playing, booking, recording and promoting Jazz in the area. He worked with groups FunkShua, Alma De Candela, The Professors, as well groups billed under his own name. Andy, being the in-demand bass player that he is, wasn’t sitting by the phone. His most notable group is Tipping Point. When I moved back to Greenville and Contraphonic offered to release the record, we thought now more than ever is the time to give this record its proper release. My friend Mike Kuechenmiester AKA Supergreen put together the artwork and YES we went ahead and got the deluxe spot matte finish on the LP jackets. What’s another couple hundred bucks at this point!
 
We have been rehearsing for our upcoming gigs and I think we sound better than we ever have. We have new arrangements as well as a hefty bag of tricks. I look forward to playing at more bizarre locations around here and on the east coast and maybe getting started on the next one!

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