For jazz musician Chieli Minucci, Special EFX All-Stars is simply his next musical act in an already impressive career.
The group, made up of Minucci and other elite musicians, will be performing Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the ballroom at The Inn at Reading as part of Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest.
“All-Stars is something new that I’ve been trying to get off the ground for a couple of years, featuring a lot of special guests,” Minucci said.
YOUR GUIDE TO BOSCOV’S BERKS JAZZ FEST: See the full line-up
This year, audiences will not only get to hear Minucci on guitar, but they’ll hear Gerald Veasley on bass, Lao Tizer on keyboards, violinist Karen Briggs and Eric Marienthal on the saxophone.
Minucci, along with his musical partner, the late George Jinda, founded Special EFX in 1982. The duo quickly started touring and making records. After Jinda passed away, the group changed its name to Special EFX featuring Chieli Minucci. Through the years, Special EFX has released more than 25 albums and Minucci has put out several solo records.
The extensive record collection is a testament to the growth and evolution of EFX. When the band started there were no horns allowed, said the guitarist. At the start, the duo were influenced by English prog rock as well as Brazilian and African music. The band wanted its early music to feel eclectic and quite different from what was already on the musical market.
“We were trying to find our identity,” Minucci said. “A lot of groups do that.”
In the band’s second phase, as Minucci called it, the group experimented with acid jazz, a club-centric predecessor of smooth jazz. Acid jazz combines the structure of jazz with continual, looping beats and hints of other genres like rhythm and blues, funk, disco and soul. In the ’90s, EFX went through a “smooth jazz phase,” elevating the group to radio recognition.
Today, the artist would categorize Special EFX as an instrumental band that occasionally features vocals, though Minucci said that he currently has some great vocalists traveling with him and the group. In fact, the group is currently touring its 2017 release, “Deep As The Night,” which has been dedicated to the memory of Minucci’s mother, Catherine. The band is also celebrating its 35th anniversary.
“Our music is very melody-based,” Minucci said. “It’s not necessarily jazz, but more instrumental, contemporary music. A big element in our sound has always been percussion and rhythm. We also focus heavily on the beats that go along with our writing.”
However, with a nod to jazz roots, the musician ensures that everyone in the group is featured with a solo of some kind.
As for Special EFX All-Stars, Minucci describes the event as a “roller coaster of styles.”
“The show that people see now is that we do medleys,” he said. “We do a little bit of everything. I’ll take some of our mellow radio spots and rock them out a little bit and add in a new arrangement. A lot of people consider the band to be a bit edgy-sounding when we play live.”
Noting that EFX All-Stars falls into the contemporary jazz fusion genre, Minucci said that the group focuses on having a cohesive band sound, a group personality that exudes skill and practice.
It’s this level of talent that makes Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest among Minucci’s favorite events each year. Having performed at the festival at least 15 times, Minucci views the event as a home base: a chance to reconnect and jam with fellow musicians.
“This is one of the better gigs,” he said. “It’s a gift to be able to travel around and do this. I’m super grateful every single day; who’s got it better than us to be able to do this stuff?”
Contact Josh Austin: weekend@readingeagle.com.
