Fast, furious - this is as rock as jazz gets - not even sure that jazz is the right word, but given they were presented as part of the London Jazz festival, well who am I to argue...
There should be another category for this middle ground of people who don't want their jazz to be square and for beret wearing afficionados, sipping a glass of red at the front row of Ronnies. Nothing wrong with that, quite like a night a Ronnie's myself, but I mean there's a 'jazz crowd' who like jazz to defined just so... and I don't think they were at the Rudder gig.
We had front row, so full audio/visual experience - a team of 4 totally in lock step - note perfect, structured yet loose, and masterful on the dynamics - professional, perfectly mixed 4 piece from NYC.
OK - more detail - there's no guitar so the rock comes from a pumping bass, and at times grinding organ, loads of energy from sax and a metronomic drummer - and what a drummer! This guy also plays with Steely Dan, and you can see how much work he's put in to perfect his craft, matching the others 'compression' and effects, with only a natural acoustic instrument, perfectly mixed.
Came away inspired, Rudder from 'Noo Yawk Ciddy" are awesome!