Madison Shumway
Life Editor
Portneuf Valley Brewing is loud with clinking glasses and conversation, diners waiting for jazz quartet Howard Wiley & Extra Nappy to take the symbolic stage in the corner of the room.
And then it’s louder, almost deafening as the band launches into the crashing cymbal and soulful sax that comprises its raucous, roving sound.
Extra Nappy has flown in from the Bay Area for ISU’s 31st annual Jazz Fest, performing Friday night at PVB and Saturday at Stephens Performing Arts Center. The group consists of a revolving cast of Californian musicians, tonight featuring frontman and saxophonist Howard Wiley, bassist Michael Lindsey, drummer Aaron Green and keyboardist Lionel DeWitt Holoman, Jr.
Though they’re performing the weekend before Valentine’s Day, coupled dancers twirling in time to the music, Wiley voices a cynical view of love.
“Single people: enjoy it, and when you see married people walking down the street holding hands, know that it’s fake. It’s a lie,” he says into the mic, laughter echoing around the room. “You’ll get yourself into debt that way—a mortgage.”
That relationship advice introduces an original piece, a tribute to Jimi Hendrix that combines jazzy piano riffs with a very Hendrix-esque bass line and classic-rock-inspired percussion.
Green, who sits behind the drum set, is a blur during this piece, the sweat on his forehead glinting blue under the colored string lights. He sports a black Mario Bros. t-shirt and a perpetual grin.
I approach him afterward. “You smile when you’re playing,” I ask. “Are you—”
“Happy?” He grins again. “It feels good. Any musical instrument is an expression, but when you’ve been playing for a certain number of years, your emotions automatically convey.”
Maybe Green’s happiness is contagious. During the hours-long set I watch Extra Nappy’s audience shake their heads incredulously and laugh out loud. People up front, especially, are held captive: eyes closed, heads nodding, hands rising to clap.
Like jazz, the band is improvisational. Green’s bass drum falls apart, and after an expletive and a brief pause, it’s reconstructed. He and Lindsey play together while Wiley and Holoman take a trip to the bar.
Extra Nappy only has two songs prepared, Wiley tells us during a break. The rest is on the spot—any requests? They know everything from the ‘60s to now, he says (but not, to our disappointment, T-Pain’s Buy U a Drank).
“We don’t talk about music,” he says. “We just play.”
Returning to its corner, the band’s sound ventures from wistful to triumphant to playful, covering John Coltrane and The Jackson 5. One second, Holoman’s keyboard samples the Pink Panther theme; the next, it’s The Temptations.
But that’s just a normal night for Howard Wiley & Extra Nappy, its name derived from Wiley’s reaction to a recording of their music.
“I said, ‘Damn, that’s some nappy-ass shit,’” he recounts. “‘Extra nappy!’”
