Vanguard

Issue date: 11/5/07 Section: Entertainment

Saying a band must fit into a certain genre should be blasphemous to all music-- unless, of course, that genre leaves possibilities wide open to the artists themselves. I'm talking about a genre called jazz fusion. Jazz fusion is a wide, open genre that merges the sounds of jazz with elements taken from other genres such as rock, indie, hip-hop. Having this genre label enables artists to have so many different elements and styles in their music without people wondering why they are straying away from their, as I like to call them, boring genres.

Looking closer into our era, you can find a few bands that have tried this wide genre of jazz fusion, but one band sticks out to me more than most. The Reign of Kindo consists of five members from Buffalo, N.Y. These members include Joseph Secchiaroli, vocals and guitar; Mike Carroll, guitar and sizes; Kelly Sciandra, piano and trumpet; Jeffery Jarvis, bass and vocals; and Steven Padin, drums and vocals.
The Reign of Kindo was formed after a popular band, This Day and Age, broke up. Four former members of This Day and Age decided to form a new group and called upon Jeffery Jarvis to play bass. All bets were against this new group and people didn't really expect too much from them. But with the new name and new bass player, came a completely new sound. The Reign of Kindo kept some of the style used in This Day and Age, but also added a new element which made this group stand out. The jazzy feel of the instruments added to the soothing, sometimes chilling vocals gave this group an edge that most bands do not have.

On Aug. 11, 2007, The Reign of Kindo released their first EP album simply titled "The Reign of Kindo." It didn't take long for the public to notice that this band was bringing something new and exciting. The Reign of Kindo's EP hit Billboard New Artist Charts at No. 47 within two months of its release.

This band is going to be one of those bands that is hard to put into one specific genre. It's hard to just call them indie or just call them jazz. Since The Reign of Kindo does have such a diverse mixing of genres, I like to view them as a modern day jazz fusion band.

There are countless numbers of bands out there who have no diversity in their sound. In order to get discovered, bands have to do more than just what is expected and The Reign of Kindo has done just that. They have experimented with a sound that most bands are too scared to experiment with and for that reason, they will always have their fans trying to guess what is going to come next.

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