Mrs. Fun are the duo of Connie Grauer (keyboards, vocals) and Kim Zick (drums). They have been together for 30 years, have released 5 albums, and improvisation is very much at the core of what they do together. Grauer’s left hand ever stops, providing a driving bass line, with all the melody coming from the right, deploying a very dated organ/synth sound which is more in common with lounge jazz but here being played in quite a different manner. On top of that is the driving drums of Zick who is all over the place, moving through a multitude of styles and emotions which provides a cut through to the fatter keyboards. Together they provide a blend of blend of off-centre jazz, funk and spoken word.
Martha Davis of The Motels once said “Their music is a blend of my favourite things. Especially cool jazz. They also remind me of beatniks. I’m from Berkeley and I know my beatniks!” Most of the songs were originally based around improvisation, but they also include a couple of covers in the instrumental “Soulful Strut” and the evergreen “Light My Fire”. I must confess this is not my normal style of music, and I did find it hard to get all the way through the album as this for me is background music nothing more or less. But this is very much down to personal taste as opposed to anything wrong with the album itself, and I can appreciate that fans of this style of jazz will get far more from it that I have. Well produced and performed, it just is not my style.
