When you think Limp Bizkit and Fred Durst, I'm near positive the first association you're making isn't jazz. I'd wager to bet the next ten associations you're making also aren't jazz, but you'd be amiss in doing so. In an interview with LA Weekly, Durst says he's been hosting a weekly jazz night every Thursday at the Black Rabbit Rose In Los Angeles, and that he's a huge jazz fan.
Though for some reason, he insists on calling the event "Fred’z With A Z." So not exactly trying to avoid the nü-metal tag here.
“I’m a big fan of jazz. I have been for a long time. It’s not necessarily something that people who know me from Limp Bizkit know about me personally. It’s one of the things I’m really fond of, so I travel around to different spots to hear different players. Some word-of-mouth stuff. Sometimes some older cats.
I’m just really impressed with the new generations … they’ve had an emotional reaction and connection to jazz at such young ages. It just blows my mind. It’s fascinating. So after traveling around for a while to different spots, I thought, “I’d like to have my own night.” Maybe if I put together the right collective of young cats and [they] wanna do something kind of sexy and cool. And then the whole ‘La La Land‘ thing … I thought the timing was unbelievable and serendipitous.
I already had the players I wanted to work with, so I started having them out to my house and getting familiar with them. Once I found the core trio, I started poking around to see how I could do a jazz night.
So luckily and ironically, the Houston brothers heard I really liked jazz and they had wanted to do a jazz night, so they reached out. I said absolutely, if we had the right spot. So they had me check out Black Rabbit Rose. Just the vibe of the spot felt really cool and good … [so] we said, “Let’s just wing it and try it.”
He also explains why he chose to call it "Fred'z With A Z." The explanation doesn't make a ton of sense, but it's an explanation and that's what really counts.
“Having my name attached to this night is one thing that was a little awkward. I said, we’ve got to call it “Fred’z With a Z”. And they said, “OK, F-R-E-D-apostrophe-S.” And I said, “No, it’s ‘Fred’z With a Z.’”
I felt like a target, you know. Like someone’s gonna see this and think, “Oh, Fred Durst’s doing a jazz night? What’s this, lounge versions of ‘Nookie’?” I just don’t know how people perceive it. I’ve had people come up to me and ask, “When are you singing? Are you gonna play one of your songs?” And I laugh and say, “I don’t think so, not tonight.”
So there you have it. If any of our readership is in the LA area and can make it out to one of these, let us know how it is! We're genuinely curious.
[via The PRP]
