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Music

Bringing home the Bacon

Durango band kicking off debut album with concert

For Durango funk-soul outfit Bacon, it all started at church.

Jazz Church, that is. Members of the band met and began jamming together at the Sunday free-form jazz event in downtown Durango in the last couple of years. What began as a loose collection of musicians improvising together eventually solidified into the five-piece band that has been bringing its funky, horn-inflected tunes to stages all over town.

Now, a year after Bacon set out as a five-piece unit, the group is releasing its first EP. The self-titled record features seven tracks of Bacon originals – songs that travel the map from jazzy instrumentals to soulful R&B tunes and groovy funk numbers, with singer and saxophone player Alicia Leone lending her impressive vocal range to the music.

To mark the occasion, Bacon will hold a CD-release party Wednesday at the Rochester Hotel’s Secret Garden. The band will have copies of the EP for sale for $10.

Leone and guitarist Travis Dalenberg, a founding member of the group, said they think the EP captures the live energy of Bacon’s concerts and shows off the improvisational dynamic that they thrive on.

Giving it a live feel, Leone said, “was the natural route for us to take because we are so influenced by jazz and improv. It’s about the moment, and playing off one another ... and creating a once-in-a-lifetime composition.”

The band recorded the album in January at Durango’s Eagle Sound Studios, and Los Angeles sound engineer Ronnie Rivera mixed it. They then took their time mastering and securing the funding for the self-financed release.

“We took our time honing it and making sure it was the best product it could be,” Dalenberg said.

The result is an album that has the energy of a live Bacon show but the refinement of a recording.

Dalenberg started the group with trumpet player Chris Ross after the two met at Jazz Church. They met bass player Jeff Nelson and Leone through the Church pipeline, and drummer Larry Craig joined the band in spring 2013.

The five musicians come from different backgrounds, but all have roots in jazz, which gives their music a flexibility and a tendency toward free-form collaborating.

“What’s really neat about Bacon is that we have five really talented, creative people who all have their own taste or add their own flare to the song,” Leone said. “It’s that collaboration that I think makes Bacon really special. We all feed off each other’s playing and each other’s songwriting.”

Dalenberg echoed that.

“It’s a great band for experimentation and learning how to improvise and play different styles,” he said.

kklingsporn@durangoherald.com

If you go

Bacon will celebrate the release of its first EP with a concert from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Rochester Hotel Secret Garden, 726 East Second Ave.



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