Listeners encountering Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey's experimental output for the first time often react with surprise upon discovering the absence of any actual member named Jacob Fred, since the ensemble deliberately chose the title as a playful ironic gesture. They likewise encounter the Tulsa, Oklahoma collective's subtly avant-garde mixture of jazz, rock, and funk, which pulls inspiration from sources as varied as electric-period Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix on one end and Sun Ra, John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Larry Young, and John Scofield on the other. JFJO's sound typically leans quirky, eccentric, and abstract, favoring an inside/outside method that remains more inside than outside overall. The Oklahoma musicians avoid atonal free jazz altogether yet bear no resemblance to retro-bop players steeped in Tin Pan Alley standards.
The group originated in Tulsa during February 1994 when Brian Haas on keyboards and piano teamed with Reed Mathis on electric bass. Prior to JFJO both musicians had received classical training; Haas in particular performed Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto alongside the Oklahoma City Philharmonic at age seventeen. Although that early orchestral appearance enhanced his credentials, Haas concluded he had no interest in pursuing a full-time classical career, viewing the European tradition as overly rigid and craving opportunities for improvisation instead. Jazz therefore became his primary focus, and upon connecting with Mathis he recognized that the other Tulsa native shared comparable preferences. While both musicians pursued a jazz-centered direction, neither approached the idiom with snobbery, maintaining equal appreciation for rock and funk. Following their formation, Haas and Mathis established themselves as regulars on the Tulsa circuit, presenting mostly instrumental material while occasionally incorporating rappers. The pair soon anchored the ensemble, though JFJO cycled through numerous additional improvisers throughout the nineties, among them trumpeter Kyle Wright, trombonist Matt Leland, percussionist Matthew Edwards, and drummer Sean Layton, each of whom eventually departed.
JFJO issued its first recording, Live at the Lincoln Continental, in 1995, followed by Live in Tokyo the next year. Among the decade's releases, Welcome Home achieved the greatest recognition and widest distribution; the live set appeared on Accurate in 1998. Subsequent albums included Mama's House and Bloom in 2000 plus Self Is Gone in 2001. All Is One: Live in New York City captured a March 2002 performance at the Knitting Factory in New York and reached stores via Knitting Factory Records four months afterward. That album introduced drummer Jason Smart, who stayed until 2007 before yielding the chair to Josh Raymer. Additional JFJO projects during the 2000s encompassed Walking with Giants in 2004, the fully improvised 2003 live document Symbiosis Osmosis featuring four guest saxophonists, Slow Breath, Silent Mind with its seven jazz-standard interpretations, 2006's The Sameness of Difference spanning original pieces alongside compositions by Jimi Hendrix, Charles Mingus, and Dave Brubeck, and 2008's Lil' Tae Rides Again.
Longtime bassist Mathis exited amicably in 2009, after which One Day in Brooklyn appeared on the band's own Kinnara imprint with newcomers Matt Hayes handling acoustic bass and Chris Combs covering electric and lap steel guitars. Stay Gold followed on Kinnara in 2010, coinciding with the announcement that Harshbarger had replaced Hayes on double bass. Race Riot Suite surfaced a year later, spotlighting a guest turn by Sex Mob trumpeter Steven Bernstein. In 2013 Haas reduced the lineup to a trio comprising Combs and drummer Josh Raymer. Two further JFJO albums arrived in 2014: the Record Store Day vinyl-only concert recording Millions: Live in Denver at DazzleJazz and the studio effort Worker.
