Jazz in San Diego is often thought of as a sedate affair \u2014 meant for listening while sipping cocktails or a cappucino. However, mix in a little soul or funk and it\u2019s an entirely different proposition. Several popular groups in this style have emerged from San Diego, including the Greyboy All-Stars and The B-Side Players. Rising right on their heels is the instrumental quartet Pocket, which performs at Winston\u2019s on Jan. 31. Influenced by artists like George Benson and Grant Green, the band formed in 2002, emerging from the ashes of Price of Dope, a late \u201990s group with a heavily funk influenced sound. More jazz oriented, Pocket, featuring bassist Christian Schinelli, keyboardist James Cummings, drummer Jeff Kelley and guitarist Andy Holmes, is fairly clear about who their audience is. “It\u2019s people who still have album collections or collect vinyl,” said Schinelli. By this he means that vinyl junkies also tend to be audiophiles, and for the members of Pocket, their sound and the way it\u2019s heard is crucial. Indeed, their most recent self-titled album is available in two formats. “The old-fashioned album is still the best way to get good sound. That\u2019s why we released the CD on vinyl as a two-LP set. Spacing the songs gives room and deeper grooves means more volume.” The band has scored a few major successes, including having their music used in commercials for Nike and doing an intro song for the HBO series “Weeds.” They were also nominated “Best Jazz Band” at the San Diego Music Awards in 2005 and 2006. Pocket was even used as a prop for a Sports Illustrated photo shoot. While the band often has guest musicians, this was different. “It was surreal,” said Schinelli. “They brought in an athlete and had him get up on stage while we were performing. He then pretended to sing for the cameras as we and the audience looked on in amusement.” While Pocket is currently working on a new album and has become a draw as far north as San Francisco, the band does not plan to take the show on the road. “Everybody in this group is a business owner and a family man,” Schinelli said. “We play as often as we can, but extended touring isn\u2019t something we can easily do.” Schinelli fills in downtime with Pocket by playing bass in the rock group Dirty Sweet. Pocket has been known to shift their sound subtly for gigs. “This isn\u2019t Dave Brubeck-type, quiet-played music. When we play places downtown, it\u2019s a completely different vibe than Winston\u2019s,” Schinelli said. “There, things like volume are a major concern. At a low volume we play a little differently. At a venue like Winston\u2019s, we can let loose. It\u2019s a bit more enjoyable, simply because it\u2019s more like a party and there are less restrictions.” Being veterans of the club scene and used to improvising, Pocket doesn\u2019t rehearse. As stage veterans, they know the basics of dozens of tunes as well as their own originals. According to Schinelli, the shell of a song is all the band needs to get a jam going. “We just show up, throw some tunes in order and wing it,” said Schinelli. “We focus more on the groove. When that really gets going, things can get explosive.” He noted that it\u2019s generally the players\u2019 solos that get the big cheers, rather than the songs. “It could really be any song that we\u2019re performing. When somebody pulls off a good set of notes, the crowd responds,” Schinelli said. Pocket perform at Winstons, 1921 Bacon St., on Saturday, Jan. 31 at 9 p.m. For more information, visit www.winstonsob.com.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jazz in San Diego is often thought of as a sedate affair \u2014 meant for listening while sipping cocktails or a cappucino. However, mix in a little soul or funk and it\u2019s an entirely different proposition. Several popular groups in this style have emerged from San Diego, including the Greyboy All-Stars and The B-Side Players. […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Pocket looking for a seam in jazz scene at Winston\u2019s Jan. 31","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11593,11561,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-298337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-no-images","category-peninsula-beacon","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}