Oz Noy Brings Sounds of Yes, Black Sabbath and King Crimson to Jazz in Santa Cruz

Jazz and blues purists can be a purely boring lot.

If an up-and-comer dares to step out of the now-familiar stylings of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis or John Coltrane, well, they say, that's just not jazz. If you wander away from Muddy Waters, nope, that's not blues, either.

Sorry. That is exactly what those be-bop believers did in their day and what they would be doing now – reaching out of the safe places and finding new and daring inspirations that were and would be criticized for being too pop or too formless in their day also.

There were no purists at Kuumbwa Jazz Center Monday night, because this was an audience that was having fun listening to excellent improvisational instrumental music being pulled in places it probably has never been before.

Oz Noy, the Israeli guitarist who resides in New York, didn't throw back quotes from the masters of jazz. He pulled from some great guitarists probably unknown to the jazz mainstream.

On one heavy jam after the melifluous song "Seven" he quoted Robert Fripp, Steve Howe and Tony Iomme (see video) – prog rockers, not jazzers – and pulled the music into the modern era (and sending the traditionalists running screaming, no doubt).

And that's what great jazz should be. Not etherized on a table, but turning the page and finding unwritten inspirations.

Noy, who on this outing played a lot from his latest disc, Twisted Blues Vol. 1, also brought up some New Orleans sound and chunks of funk, both provided in large measures by drummer Dave Weckl and bass player Darryl Jones.

If you missed it Monday, they play Tuesday in San Francisco at Yoshi's. That's a long drive for something you should have seen locally, but worth it.