Our latest album “Quantum Christmas” has been nominated for Northwest Recording of the Year in the Earshot Jazz Awards! We’re so excited and honored to be nominated! Not only that, but our saxophonist Cliff Colón has been nominated for Instrumentalist of the year!
Tacoma guitarist Mason Hargrove is officially joining Velocity as its fifth member! We are so thrilled to have Mason in the band and can’t wait for you all to hear what he brings to our music. His soulful, bluesy, elegant style is the perfect fit for the high energy fusion music of Velocity. You can hear him with us for the first time on our new Christmas album Quantum Christmas. Here is a little more about Mason to get to know him:
From the sweet & soulful sounds that harken back to the greats of yesteryear, to the raw cutting-edge sounds of his modern contemporaries, guitarist Mason Hargrove is a musically exciting stand-out from the crowd. Born and raised in Tacoma, WA, he first started playing guitar after hearing the grungy sounds of the early 90’s emanating from Seattle. Armed with a few classic rock riffs learned from his father, he enrolled in the high school jazz band and began taking private lessons. His peers and elder statesmen in college and the Northwest area soon exposed him to rhythm & blues, jazz, funk, hip-hop and soul music, as well as the real experience of live performance and improvisation. Now with 30 years playing experience behind him, Hargrove has developed a vocabulary and sound uniquely his own, yet still accessible to everyone. He has also appeared as a sideman for many local and national touring artists, both live and in the recording studio.
Mason Hargrove
Velocity is a prog instrumental fusion band based out of Tacoma Washington. We meld together a variety of musical styles including funk, prog rock, hip hop, and jazz. The music combines hard-hitting grooves and hook melodies with open improvisation. The energetic original compositions are largely written by keyboardist Peter Adams, with each member contributing to the arrangements and sound of the music. Common time is uncommon with Velocity. Melodies are twisted and warped around each other. Solos are aggressive, yet bind the compositions to a set of defined rules and formulas. The sounds that you expect are not the sounds you get. And that’s just the way We like it.
Peter Adams / Keyboard
Cliff Colón / Saxophone
Brian Smith / Drums
Rob Hutchinson / Bass Mason Hargrove / Guitar
Magnetar - MAGNETAR
EmDrive - MAGNETAR (feat. Jacques Willis)
Strange Matter - MAGNETAR
Universal Function - MAGNETAR (feat. Joe Doria)
Mosaic - DISPLACEMENT OVER TIME
Penrose - DISPLACEMENT OVER TIME
ACCELERATED EXPANSION - DISPLACEMENT OVER TIME
CLARITY AND PRECISION - DISPLACEMENT OVER TIME
Released November 20th 2023
Quantum Christmas is Velocity’s first full length Crhistmas album. Featuring the debut of Velocity’s fifth member Mason Hargrove on guitar. Christmas classics reimagined for the music enthusiast!
“The familiar melodies are left relatively intact, but the underlying rhythms are shifted and permutated, and the arrangements feature hip reharmonizations, with plenty of probing solos and group improvisational fire. Quantum Christmas pushes into the funkier side of the spectrum, powered by the slickly interlocking rhythm section of Brian Smith on drums and Rob Hutchinson on bass. Tenor saxophonist Cliff Colón breathes melodic firepower and energy into the music, and new guitarist Mason Hargrove injects wiry solos, rock flourishes, and nuanced textural layers.” - ANDREW LUTHRINGER - Earshot Jazz
https://www.earshot.org/project/2023-12-velocity-quantum-christmas/
Released October 1st, 2019
Magnetar is Velocity’s third full length studio-recorded album, following their debut self titled album and the followup "Displacement Over Time." Featuring its four original members Peter Adams, Brian Smith, Cliff Colón, and Rob Hutchinson, two tracks also feature special guest artists Jacques Willis on "EmDrive" and Joe Doria on "Universal Function."
All songs were recorded live in studio at Studio Litho in Seattle by Floyd Reitsma and mastered by Ed Brooks at Resonant Mastering.
Released December 9, 2015
Displacement Over Time is Velocity's second full-length studio-recorded album. It delves into the depths of jazz, funk and fusion, and comes back up with sounds that are deep, dimensional and dynamic. The music is furiously energetic and always grooving.
Reviews
"Pianist/songwriter Adams, saxophonist/co-arranger Colon, drummer/co-arranger Brian Smith, and bassist Rob Hutchinson give a group pulse to every funked-out track, as if they were on a mission to extract the full consequences of dreaming big — as both engineers and artists. They seem to almost OC-D on every possible melody from even the most minor fragment of elicit inspiration." - Carol Banks Weber, AXS.com
"The Tacoma, Washington-based quartet's sounds travels crisp, tightly-woven modern jazz terrain not unlike that of pianist Chick Corea's Elektric Band: groove-centric drums and bass, a hot saxophone not quite out front but incorporated more equally into the ensemble sound, and some fine and fancy electric keyboards giving the music a futuristic feel."
- Dan McClenaghan, AllAboutJazz.com
Released March 26th 2014
Velocity's debut self-titled album establishes the group as a fiercely energetic and dynamic band, drawing from a variety of musical styles such as funk, fusion, latin, and jazz. Keyboardist/composer Peter Adams, and drummer/arranger Brian Smith showcase their unique composition skills by combining hard hitting grooves with hook melodies and open improvisation. Saxophonist Cliff Colon brings an intense energy with his furious solos throughout the album while bassist Rob Hutchinson lays down deep and precise grooves, anchoring the group's intensely satisfying sound.
Got a show or venue where you'd like to feature Velocity?
Contact us and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.
