Typical, if not great film noir stories feature the scowling, down-on-his-luck lead detective against a seedy, crime ridden waste of a world. His services are usually called into question from local thugs, people who need help and others who just need to know what the hell is going on. After extensive research, intuition sets in with the detective. He builds a case while seemingly getting deeper and deeper into the belly of trouble. Paranoia, neurosis, helplessness, unresolved tension, the resonance of gunshots ringing in the night and the blurring of the lines between good and evil make the detective’s plight for justice much more complicated than it has to be. It only makes thing much seedier when given the proper backdrop and lighting, usually from the safety of street lamps painted against the black canvas of the city sky.

Syracuse, New York’s guitar-driven jazz quartet, 3rd & Main, excel at painting the soundtrack to a desolate and otherwise hopeless situation. The group, self dubbed “cool noir jazz” certainly brings its own accompaniment of nostalgia and inner city image. Songs such as “Healing” and “Blue Ruins” not only show off guitarists Gil Lopez and Chris Kneisel’s incredible guitar prowess, the band uses clean guitar tones to create dirty overtones and the soundtrack of a knife at your throat. There’s no way to get around how great these guys perform, really. Images of dusky pool halls, cigarettes and alcohol littering the bar counters and 5 o’clock shadowed men in Fedoras flashing Aces on the card table flow over the intricate jazz melodies. The music becomes a story within itself and the sizzling hi-hats of drummer Ken Hart and warm bass tones from Mark Eich elaborate the pages that much more with each passing beat.

The jazz quartet’s planted itself in the Syracuse area for over four years. Currently the band is gearing up for a June 7th performance at the A Taste Of Syracuse SubCat Emerging Artist stage. Definitely check out these cool cats as they wail on seemingly seedy backdrop music that would make Raymond Chandler tip his cap in utmost respect.

Check out:
Healing
Blue Ruins