Jazz-influenced Rock: Jason Mraz's Mr. A-Z

When Jason Mraz’s album, Mr. A-Z opens with its clever lyric over the jazzy ballad “Life is Wonderful,” I imagined this review would focus on how Mraz’s Hip Hop/rap-sing shouldn’t overshadow his true Jazz-influenced Rock foundation. But then the drums kick in, and it’s clear: this review needs to be about Adam King.

King hits his entrance a minute and a half into the song with a tight snare that accentuates the rhythmic jazz patterns, grounding Mraz’s poppy ballad. It is King that brings the groove.

Mraz is a unique singer/songwriter, clearly having his own voice of quirks, multiple influences, humor, and songs to boot. However, he has surrounded himself with an incredible band that work their skills to make Mraz sound really good. With Adam King behind the drum set, there are big kicks for big radio rock songs, but more than that, there’s subtlety and well-placed bursts in those tight snare patterns that keep the jazzy songs moving on down the road.

King’s syncopated breaks and punches on “Clockwatching” earn him “Kick Ass Drums” credits in the liner notes, although the song’s percussion is even more developed due to Raul Rekow (congas, percussion) and Karl Perazzo (timbales, percussion). King’s drumming builds to great tension on “Plane” for its dramatic closing section.

“O. Lover” has multiple section, each with a different rhythm, and King leads the way from quiet, Spanish jazz to funk groove to disco ball to the prog rock closing bridge.

Interestingly, the tight, marching snare pattern I associate with King’s incredible performance on “Common Pleasures” from the live album wonderfully breaks up the over-indulgent Hip Hop/R&B of “Geek in the Pink.” However, that snare pattern comes from drummer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson—not King. Yet, I’m still giving King the credit, because I’m going to assume ?uestlove took the inspiration from Mraz’s regular drummer.

So on Jason Mraz’s Mr. A-Z, there’s a “K” in that alphabet that stands for King.

Oh, by the way, just a few notes on why Jason Mraz has been moved from the American Band Rock section to the Jazz-influenced Rock section. You can hear it on the jazzy funk duet with Rachel Yamagata on “Did You Get My Message?” (Yamagata is also in the Jazz-influenced section. And hey, Yamagata is my fellow Northwestern University alum. Go Cats!). Also, there’s a jazzman’s adaptability on “Bella Luna,” taking on a faux-operatic vocal, combining it with jazzy pop.

Thanks to Jason Mraz and Atlantic Records for the review copy.