Louder Than Your TV

Wally Schnalle has not been easy to pigeonhole. The Northern California drummer is jazz-oriented, but he hasn't played one style of jazz exclusively. Schnalle is perfectly comfortable providing very straight-ahead, acoustic-oriented post-bop, but he has an electric side as well — and that electric side yields exciting, memorable results on Louder Than Your TV. This early-2009 release finds Schnalle leading an electric quintet that also includes fellow Northern California musicians Charles McNeal (sax), Jeff Massanari (guitar), Murray Low (keyboards), and Jason Muscat (bass), and he enjoys a strong rapport with all of them on a 68-minute CD that essentially falls into the fusion and jazz-funk categories. There is a strong groove factor on energetic Schnalle originals such as "EB75," "Betty Jo B," and "Everybody's Got One"; this album is fairly accessible, but not at the expense of improvisation or spontaneity. The soloists have plenty of room to stretch out, and Louder Than Your TV is an album that — for all its funk, soul, and rock appeal — never lacks a jazz mentality and isn't without intellect. In fact, "Gimme a Break (Everybody Does)" has a bit of Thelonious Monk's quirkiness but also brings to mind Herbie Hancock's classic Headhunters band of the 1970s. Schnalle is an exemplary improviser in that he can go from the acoustic straight-ahead realm to the funky electric realm without losing his jazz focus or forgetting that jazz should be — to borrow a term coined by the late jazz critic Whitney Balliett — the sound of surprise. Louder Than Your TV is a fine demonstration of Schnalle's talents as a drummer, composer, arranger, and group leader.