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Revolving Jugglers toss miscellaneous mixes in the air, and down comes music

The Revolving Jugglers, a band out of Seattle, is made up of Dave Foley on drums, Trevor Redfern on bass, Matt Sheldon on guitars and vocals, and Antoinette Swenson on keyboards and vocals. That is probably the easiest concrete statement that can be made about them, and their new CD, “Bullet Train.”

The Revolving Jugglers are clearly a jazz-influenced band. They are also clearly influenced by rock, by folk, by klezmer music. They are influenced by funk and punk and rockabilly music. The occasional polka “Oohm-Pah” is balanced with the occasional Middle Eastern, minor-chord progression. Throughout the album (and oftentimes in the middle of songs) they switch smoothly and seamlessly from time signature to time signature, and from style to style. The clear influence of so many different styles leads one to believe that this may be the root of their name. They revolve through different types of music, juggling operatic singing with punk music in one song, blues piano with rock-n-roll guitars in another.

Foley and Redfern have been playing together for more than 10 years. Sheldon joined the band three and a half years ago, and Swenson joined around two years ago. All of the musicianship is excellent (It is clear that they have been playing together for some time), and Swenson’s voice is a thing of beauty. With it, she provides a depth that makes good songs great. She glides from an operatic style to that of a Billie Holiday/Ella Fitzgerald, blues/jazz singer competently and completely. She is particularly spectacular on track nine, “Waiting for You.”

The two primarily instrumental tracks are also wonderful. Track four “Ess Ess,” and track eight, the title track “Bullet Train,” stand out.

“Ess Ess” is reminiscent of classic New Orleans jazz with its “all together, solo-solo-solo, all together” format. Beginning with a rockabilly/punk jam with keyboard backing, it transitions into a straight out rock-n-roll guitar solo. From that solo it goes to a piano jam that is quite Phish-esque, then into a drums and bass solo before the whole band comes back together for the end. Simply smashing.

“Bullet Train” merges everything from a Trey Anastasio-like, airy-guitar-sound, soaring rock solo to folksy violin with a funk, wah-wah background groove. This track, clearly the centerpiece of the album, is a 10-minute-long exploration of how sounds from different types of music can work together in one piece.

Other standout tracks on the album are the klezmer-esque “Figure 8,” and the soulful “Oh Baby,” a tongue-in-cheek spoof of the typical Motown love song.

This album is for anyone who wants to listen to something new, something different and something perhaps a bit more challenging than the run-of-the-mill, bubblegum-pop, Top 40 music that permeates our world. There is truly something here for everyone.

For more information, go to www.revolvingjugglers.com.