Complex. Sophisticated. Adventurous. The music of MRS..FUN is a unique blend of off-center jazz, ultra-funk, spoken word rap, and neo-cabaret.
MRS. FUN are post-modernist bop, the perfect lounge entertainment for the Cabaret Kerouac…Both Connie Grauer and Kim Zick are impressive players, with not just the ability, but also the agility and vision to take their music into the greenest pastures out in left field. Fun indeed.
Their virtuosity seems earmarked for legendary status.
MRS. FUN stomps the jazz terra, doing exactly what Miles Davis had done throughout his whole career: breaking through old boundaries, re-establishing new ones, and then breaking through even those; so that the music can no longer be pigeonholed solely under the label of jazz.
Multi-keyboardist Connie Grauer and drum basher Kim Zick can play big-beat rock one moment, salute Sun Ra or Thelonious Monk the next, then launch into a groove tune that sounds like a computer getting funky. You gotta respect that.
Drummer Kim Zick and keyboardist/vocalist Connie Grauer work intuitively from a jazz base, spinning out funky but thorny rhythms and memorable but subtle melodies from disparate threads of rock, pop, tango and the most venturesome explorations of avant-garde ‘60s jazz.
To give you a bit of a flavour by comparison, this is like Laurie Anderson invites Thelonious Monk to afternoon tea and he turns up with Nina Hagan; a quiet cuppa and chat becomes quite a party!
Connie Grauer is one of the most creative, adventurous and energetic musicians in Milwaukee’s music scene.
Zick, propulsively polyrhythmic and invariably on time, is simply one of most talented percussionist on the scene.
A virtuoso duo displaying amazing energy and range, MRS. FUN wraps sharp humor and wigged-out joy around an aggressive, crunchy acid jazz center.
Their music is a blend of my favorite things. Especially cool jazz. They also remind me of beatniks. I’m from Berkeley and I know my beatniks!
Their musicality and stage presence remind me of the glory days of vaudeville. Kim and Connie are kind of like the Bert Lahr and Al Jolson of modern music.
Moe Tucker, drummer for the Velvet Underground named MRS. FUN one of her top ten bands of the year.
Their quirky output is equal parts chaos and tunefulness. Hanging out in left field where they do, there’s a thin line between pretension and art. Thankfully, they manage to always stay on the right side of the line.
Grauer is a piano player with few equals, whose drive and energy spills across the stage and into the audience like a cloud of nitrous oxide. She’s got a left hand that doesn’t quit, the mark of any great pianist, and a right hand with limitless boundaries. Zick is a heart-stopping drummer. Her grooves get so far out, most people need a map to get back. Taste before ego sums up her approach to percussion; taste that is ruled by finesse.
Grauer is a piano player with few equals, whose drive and energy spills across the stage and into the audience like a cloud of nitrous oxide. She’s got a left hand that doesn’t quit, the mark of any great pianist, and a right hand with limitless boundaries. Zick is a heart-stopping drummer. Her grooves get so far out, most people need a map to get back. Taste before ego sums up her approach to percussion; taste that is ruled by finesse.
