For Baton Rouge’s modern jazz sextet Captain Green, 2011 was a good year. The band had been around for a year, and keyboardist Ross Hoppe says the guys were in a comfortable groove.
“We hit our stride,” he says. “We were gigging nearly every week.”
During that time, Captain Green was one of four bands—along with Onion Loaf, Stagecoach Bandits and Gris Gris—that had a stranglehold on the local fusion/funk/jam-rock scene.
Captain Green’s popularity grew quickly, surpassing the others in that category. The band released a debut album, Everywhere Is Where It’s At, recorded in a mere 12 hours. That’s 13 tracks, most of which clock in over the six-minute mark, recorded in half a day’s time.
“I know that doesn’t seem like a lot of time,” Hoppe says, laughing. “We were just on such a run. That’s how a lot of jazz albums I enjoy were recorded.”
By 2015, the jazz sextet has changed members here and there, but it has stuck to its outer-space funk vibes. Hot off the release of its new album, a six-track player called Protect Each Other Together, Hoppe isn’t sure of the secret to the band’s longevity, but he will admit the band has learned how to listen and write tighter arrangements.
“What’s really helped us is sticking with it,” he says. “Stylistically, we take a lot of form in our songs. We structure our songs a lot more. I don’t like to let things just jam without end. When you jam, you need to have a certain discipline to not always be the leader. Everyone needs to listen better.”
And the band had to listen and write better, especially if it wanted to release some of its new material. The new album features instrumental arrangements, including a two-movement track that spans nearly 25 minutes.
“We have to have moving parts,” Hoppe says. “There are lots of moving sections. The second movement starts off [sounding] like Dark Magus by Miles Davis, then goes into this prog rock ballad-y feel, then Earth, Wind & Fire. Then, there’s this Beatles section. It [sounds like] all the music I love. You just have to take chances and write. You do the homework, do the work, then give yourself the structure of the song.”
The band has toured the Southeast and appeared at festivals in North Carolina and Florida, to name a few. With a Kickstarter success in late February to help print copies of the new record, the band is looking to go on the road, continuing to grow and spread the peaceful vibes.
“[The album title] comes from an old Indian peace mantra,” Hoppe says. “It’s not about we should hold hands in the street and throw flower petals at each other. It’s just about, ‘Let’s look out for each other and grow together.’ It’s just simple.”
The band’s second album, Protect Each Other Together, was released earlier this year and is available on iTunes and CDBaby.
Captain Green plays April 9 at Chelsea’s Café and April 17 at The Pelican House. For a list of upcoming shows, visit captaingreenmusic.com.
