The Motet is, from left, Matt Pitts, Dave Watts, Ryan Jalbert, Joey Porter, Jans Ingber, Garrett Sayers and Gabe Mervine (front middle).IF YOU GO• What: Fly Free Fest music festival• When: 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10, through 3:30 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 12• Where: Cherokee Farms, 2035 Old Mineral Springs Road, Lafayette, Ga.• Admission: $125 general admission; $250 VIP tickets (includes premium camping, private bathrooms, food, 10 drink tickets, merch package, meet-and-greets); free to children 12 and under; $40 single-day tickets ($50 if purchased at the gate)• Website: flyfreefest.com• Artist website: themotet.net
SCHEDULEA full schedule of the dozens of acts slated to play Fly Free Fest is available at flyfreefest.com/schedule.MOTET DISCOGRAPHY• 1999: "Breathe"• 2001: "Play"• 2004: "Music for Life"• 2005: "The Motet (Live)"• 2006: "Instrumental Dissent"• 2009: "Dig Deep"• 2014: "The Motet"
Colorado-based funk-fusion septet The Motet kicked off 2014 with its second appearance in Denver's massive 4,500-capacity Fillmore Auditorium. The year only got better from there with a set at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, three dates at Red Rocks Amphitheatre and a festival appearance in Mexico with String Cheese Incident.
"It's definitely been the best year in the history of the band," says guitarist Ryan Jalbert, who joined the group in 2005, about seven years after it was founded by drummer Dave Watts.
Despite months of seemingly unending high points, the success didn't arrive completely out of left field. In February, The Motet celebrated the release of its sixth studio album, which exhibited a fresh, tightly funky sound that its members have described as a "new beginning" to accompany a lineup that finally has settled out after years of rotating membership.
This year's success, Jalbert says, is the culmination of a decision he and his bandmates made four years ago for "really going for it." In the process, he says, they restructured their creative process into a more democratic system, and the change is paying dividends.
They also sought inspiration in classic funk artists, leading to a more tightly orchestrated approach that echoes that of artists such as Earth Wind and Fire, Tower of Power and Parliament Funkadelic while still leaving room for the improvisation that defines their live shows.
"We've been finding our own sound, and people have been responding to that," Jalbert says. "We're still ... evolving, but yeah, it's definitely been vindicating.
"It's all to serve the funk," he adds.
On Friday, Oct. 10, The Motet will add one more festival notch to their belts as the headliner of the first evening of Fly Free Fest, a newly minted multigenre event set to take over Cherokee Farms in Lafayette, Ga., this weekend. Other headliners include electronic musician Dan Deacon, newgrass band Railroad Earth and The Main Squeeze, who headlined a Riverfront Nights concert last month.
Being able to field seven players at once is crucial to The Motet's live shows, which are notoriously high-energy and rife with improvisational moments that reflect its members' shared roots in jazz.
But seeing the audience dancing trumps precision playing as the most important outcome of a show, Jalbert says.
"We're advocates of ... showing people that we're going to make you dance as hard or harder than whoever your favorite DJ is," he says. "Our show is relentless; we're not throwing in ballads. Our main goal is to throw a dance party ... but with soul."
Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6205. Follow him on Twitter at @PhillipsCTFP.