Take A Trip With Pink Ride

In July of 2009, I wrote about a trio of 16 year olds I caught live at Kenny's Castaways. The band was called Once Again, led by keyboardist and songwriter Dylan Maida and I enjoyed their version of improvised jazz very much. I finished the piece by saying, "to see and hear such young musicians play and arrange original tunes in such daring ways, gives me hope and confidence that what I heard on Tuesday night was hardly novelty."

This Christmas, Maida was back with a solo version of Vince Guaraldi's "Linus & Lucy" that went over quite well with many of you.

Now, Dylan Maida unveils Pink Ride. This time the trio consists of Dan Keegan on drums and Arden Yonkers on bass, with Maida still behind the keys, and as I had hoped in 2009, Dylan Maida is no novelty.

Like the earlier trio, Pink Ride mixes spacey grooves and melodies while never veering too far off into the unfortunate black holes that for my money, tend to sabotage so many jam bands. And also, like the earlier tunes Maida composed for Once Again, the originals on the Pink Ride E.P., split in half with three by Maida and three by Yonkers, all have a smart melodic sense you can hang onto. This is what impresses me most about this band. They can write a hook.

The music here is inspired. The playing is fresh. Pink Ride has set me up with anticipation for what they have coming next and that's the best compliment I can give this trio.

Check out Pink Ride's "E.P." over HERE.