The Benevento-Russo Duo

The New York pair reinvent jazz-rock for the jam band generation

“When we were in the Subaru station wagon making four dollars a night, it was a little easier to get pissed off” Courtesy of Smash

From the White Stripes to the Black Keys, the contemporary pop scene is suddenly full of duos. Sometimes the format is a conscious, artistic decision, while in other cases it’s born out of the bottom line that touring as a duo is cheaper. In the case of organist Marco Benevento and drummer Joe Russo, who were childhood friends in the New York area, the format was a result of serendipity.

“The way this whole thing started was that I got offered a gig every Thursday at [New York club] the Knitting Factory,” explains Russo. “It paid a hundred bucks, so I said to Marco, why don’t you bring your organ down, the two of us can make 50 bucks each?”

“We’d both recently moved back to New York and reconnected,” says Benevento, picking up the story. “We didn’t purposefully start a duo, but it turned into a 10-month gig. It was free, so people would come down and check it out, and it just grew. People were like, ‘When are you playing next?’ ‘Do you have a CD?’ So we made a CD, and then it was like, OK, we’re a band.”

Former middle school classmates, Benevento had gone off to Berklee College of Music for a formal education, while Russo had cut his chops touring with seminal Colorado jam band Big Mama. With Benevento’s academic expertise and Russo’s real-world know-how, they were able to generate a sound that was steeped in the vocabulary of jazz yet had the muscular energy of a rock band.

Storied organ acts like jazz great Jimmy Smith, ’60s jazz-rock outfit Emerson, Lake and Palmer, and fellow jam band favorites Medeski, Martin and Wood come to mind. “Ours is a rock and jazz thing,” says Benevento. “Sure, I listened to the [jazz fusion] trio of Larry Young, Tony Williams and John McLaughlin, but then I also listen to Beck or Radiohead and all these other rock bands.”

Amid all the duos pushing the limits of the possible, Benevento-Russo stand out for the intensity of their interplay and ability to yoke together strands of rock, jazz and electronica in one improvisational whole. The emphasis on improv has brought them a large audience in the North American jam band scene, where they’ve backed former Phish frontman Trey Anastasio and played key events like the Bonnaroo Festival.

(After playing this year’s Fuji Rock Festival on Saturday, they’ll be appearing the following weekend alongside fellow FRF acts the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Strokes and the Raconteurs at the Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago.)

To coincide with the duo’s FRF date, Japanese distributor P-Vine has just released their latest album, Play Pause Stop, a month ahead of its North American debut. Bursting with the extended, freewheeling jams for which the band is known, the album documents Benevento and Russo’s evolution as a unit.

“We listened to some of our CDs and we’d be like, oh, here’s another 12-minute song,” says Russo. “So over time we decided we had to trim and focus. With the new tunes, we’ve trimmed the fat off, and almost got this sort of pop thing happening.”

“We get requests for specific songs and people are more familiar with our material now,” adds Benevento. “There are probably like five tunes that always go off really well and others that people are starting to get more familiar with. The less easily digested material is starting to find a better reception.”

While some years ago improv of Benevento-Russo’s sort might have been considered experimental and restricted to a jazz-intelligentsia audience, the take-off of the jam band scene has opened a new worldwide audience for what can sometimes be challenging music.

Needless to say, the pair are delighted. “Everything that’s happening with us now is so great—how could we not be having a good time?” asks Russo. “The shows we’re playing in the States are great, the crowds are awesome, and now we’re in Japan. There’s not much to not be happy about. When we were in the Subaru station wagon making four dollars a night, it was a little easier to get pissed off. We’re in a lucky spot and we’re trying to do what we can with it. This is the best musical thing in my life, and what I always dreamed of. Maybe I won’t have to work at Burger King after all.”

The Benevento-Russo Duo play the Fuji Rock Festival on July 29. See concert listings (popular) for details. Play Pause Stop is available on P-Vine Records.

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