The Industrial Jazz Group (IJG) is a novel, adventurous big band (currently 17 pieces) showcasing the music of composer Andrew Durkin and the talents of some of the jazz world’s pluckiest, most charismatic players. Frustrated by the limitations of “Jazz, the Institution,” and bored by the mediocrity of much modern pop, the IJG has slowly pioneered the concept of “avant-garde party music”: an idiosyncratic, charming / disarming blend of jazz, rock, cartoon soundtracks, humor, blues, funk, costumes, doo wop, dada, and a lot of other stuff. It’s not really “industrial,” and it’s not really “jazz”: the IJG attempts to demonstrate that music can indeed be complex, sophisticated, sexy, fun, funny, critical, smart, and groovy all at once.

Andrew Durkin is a (self-described) hack composer and pseudo-intellectual living in Portland, OR. His main project is the Industrial Jazz Group. He has scored several films and videos, including the award winning shorts “Fish” and “Lunch” by Sarah Jane Shute. He was once a member of the NJ vocal ensemble, The Evelyn Situation, and the experimental pop studio project, Jay’s Booming Hat. Some folks claim that he has written a rock opera, a screenplay, and an innovative arrangement of Stephen Sondheim’s score for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He studied composition with his CD Player, and before that, with his turntable. Durkin’s doctoral dissertation, Decomposition: a Critique of Musical Authorship and Authenticity, may be published someday. In any case, he likes to paint with words as well as sounds, and writes a regular blog (Jazz: The Music of Unemployment) while occasionally poking at a collection of essays entitled The Revolution Will Not Be Linear.

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