Baked Goods

Although Baked Goods is now a six-piece band, the group began in December 2011 with Dan Janis, primarily a saxophone player, and Asa Lieberman, primarily a guitar player, shifting around on instruments as they developed their distinct sound: somewhat jammy, somewhat jazzy, somewhat funky, and always danceable. Now, almost a year later, Baked Goods features six talented young musicians, some of whom previously played in county jazz bands. The lineup currently includes Cory Azmon (bass), Glenn Chiarello (drums), Josh Hyman (guitar), Skyler Rudolfsky (baritone and alto saxophone) Janis (tenor saxophone), Lieberman (lead vocals and guitar). Baked Goods are now preparing to release Fresh Out the Oven, their first full length album, the follow-up to their studio EP Chocolate. Between playing shows on Long Island and New York City, Baked Goods managed to spend lots of time on the new extended recording slated to come out in March. Lieberman sings of a bright future, one in which Baked Goods will enjoy, as in a lyric from “Getaway” off Chocolate, “the sun shining down on a bright new day.”
Although Baked Goods is now a six-piece band, the group began in December 2011 with Dan Janis, primarily a saxophone player, and Asa Lieberman, primarily a guitar player, shifting around… - Relix Magazine

by Brian Hanshaw

When you hear the words “Baked Goods,” you probably think of a bakery or some girls selling brownies at the snack bar of your junior high school. But did you know that Baked Goods is also the name of a band? That’s right; a group of guys from Nassau County in Long Island, NY came up with the name one summer with a group of friends.
“We were just hanging around one day trying to figure out what to call ourselves. Someone suggested ‘Fresh Goods’ and then from there we decided that Baked Goods would work best for all of us,” says Asa Lieberman. Lieberman is the lead vocalist/guitarist and songwriter for the band. Fellow band mates include Dan Janis-Tenor Sax, Glenn Chiarello-Drums, Skyler Rudolfsky-Baritone Sax, Josh Hyman-Electric guitar, and Cory Azmon-Bass Guitar.
The group met while growing up in Merrick, their hometown located in Long Island, NY. They attended John F. Kennedy High School and became friendly through being in the band and other musical organizations. The group decided to merge and form a group composed of some of the best musicians in their class and have been jamming out together since. Lieberman had also mentioned to me during our interview that coincidentally enough, he is originally a local and he has family from parts of Cheltenham, PA and Ambler, PA.
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For those who have never heard the band, their sound can best be described as jam-band, funk, jazz and rock all melted together. Figuratively, it is a fondue of different elements dipped into a big batch of melted chocolate. They incorporate acoustic sounds as well as electric rock guitar blended with a saxophone/brass horn element to add a sort of jazzy, ska flavor to the mix. They are influenced by such bands as Dave Matthews, Phish, Sublime, OAR and the like. Most of their fan base is comprised of a younger, college-aged crowd-about 18-30. However, they feel that their music can be geared towards anyone who is willing to enjoy it. “We see all kind of people at our shows”, says Lieberman. “When we see people out on the floor dancing and having a good time, it makes us feel good because that is how we know that they truly are enjoying our music.”
Each of the band members is a trained musician and is professional about their work, but they also like to have fun. Janis is an alternate for New York’s All-State band and a member of the Nassau County All-County Wind Ensemble. Chiarello is a member of the Nassau-Suffolk Jazz Ensemble, as well as a percussionist for the All State Jazz band. When asked about creating and composing their own original work, the band mates simply replied, “It takes a whole lot of wrong to make a whole lot of right.” I found this quote to be very simple, yet quite profound. “It is mostly a collaborative effort, and we try to treat each song as its own distinct project. Each particular track is unique in itself, so that none of our songs ever sound alike.” The guys do most of their recordings at Music Palace with producer Kenny Truhn and owner Michael Bona.
The band has played a few local gigs and has performed at various events and charity functions around their home town. They played at the Long Island 2-Day Walk for Breast Cancer as well as The Hub Billards Club in Island Park, NY. One of their all-time dreams is to open for Eric Clapton at Madison Square Garden. “Playing at MSG would be awesome. Being from this area, it has always been their goal to be chosen to perform at The Garden in front of a live audience.”
If you visit the bands Facebook page, there is even a link to vote for them so that they can hopefully get the chance to fulfill this goal. - That Music Mag

Jam bands have taken a number of forms, from zoned-out guitar noodling to tight, funky grooves, to world-music influence, to virtuosic fusion ensembles who can make some significant music in the context of their improvisations. And while the 1990s seemed to be the heyday of the jam bands, last year saw new releases by the three most significant groups currently on the scene, the String Cheese Incident, Umphrey’s McGee and Moe. Each of those bands have their own distinctive approach to the genre. Another big influence to the scene has been the Dave Matthews Band, though they were not always lumped in with the jam band scene. But their influence can be felt in an impressive new album by a young quintet from Long Island quintet called Baked Goods, whose second CD is called One of Those Things.
Baked Goods goes in for a somewhat funky groove but also gets into breezy folky rock tunes with an acoustic guitar at the center. And like the Dave Matthews Band, there is a prominent sax in the group’s sound. The folkiness comes from Asa Daniels, who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter. His instrument is the acoustic guitar. Other members include Josh Hyman on electric guitar and Dan Janis on sax. Cory Azmon is on bass who has classical training, according to the band’s bio. The drummer is Glenn Chiarello. They formed in 2012 and released their debut album called Fresh Out of the Oven the following year. The new release, One of Those Things involved an outside co-producer and engineer, James Meslin. The new album captures a group that really has their “chops” together, as they say. The musicianship is first rate and while the band does stretch out a little on some of the album’s tracks, the music is well-structured and runs toward the more tightly composed end of the jam-band spectrum. And like many jam bands, their compositions are oriented more toward the music than the words. A lot of it could be party music in a way. The band, amusingly, describe themselves on their website as “a bunch of dudes who make sexy music for sexy people.”

It’s a relatively short album clocking in at under 40 minutes, but with the web and download sales deconstructing the concept of an album, I suppose that is not so much a factor. But their music does have enough coherence that it still makes the concept of an album viable.
Nevertheless, the CD configuration starts with a tune which could be considered something of an anthem or theme song for the group A Good Time. It combines the attractive aspects of Baked Goods’ sound, the tight funky rhythms, Asa Daniels’ appealing vocals and a composition that has some interesting facets to the arrangement. >
The following track L.W.I., is a song that was also included in their first album, though this version is a little lighter and airier in sound. It continues the group’s upbeat but funky rhythmic groove. >
Asa Daniels’ acoustic guitar is never far from the surface, and several tracks feature it fairly prominently in the arrangement. The song called Hey Now is a kind of airy party tune, with appropriately light lyrics. >
One of the more musically interesting pieces on the album is Get In Line which take a harder edged sound at times but with some twists. Lyrically it’s also the strongest on the album, taking up the classic subject of coming up against some kind of powerful dehumanizing force. >
With a somewhat similar lyrical direction is a song called Just Another Nobody in Somebody. Musically the piece is an interesting contrast between its different sections, But even when it gets rocky it has Asa Daniels’ acoustic guitar as an anchor. >
In the CD’s package, rather than providing band members names or other useful information, Baked Goods reproduce a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem The Secret of the Sea in an unreadable font. Presumably the song Sailing Free was inspired by that. It’s another of the group’s easy-going tracks that is both airy in sound and also features a good danceable groove. >
The CD ends with The Child which is another highlight of the album, alternating between a folky sound and a more energetic rock approach. >
One of Those Things, the new album by the Long Island based band Baked Goods deftly straddles the jam band realm and an almost folky sound. The material has an acoustic guitar at its core but frequently tends toward an infectious funky beat, with good playing all around. The presence of the sax and acoustic guitar may evoke the sound of the Dave Matthews Band, and I don’t think the group would deny some influence there. But they go their own way and come up with a distinctive sound that is appealing, that can serve as party music but also has a lot of interesting musical ideas. With the short length of the CD, the band is not featured stretching out with any extended improvisations, but the material could certainly allow it, and the playing is good enough to support holding their own in a jam band setting.
For an audio quality grade, we’ll give the CD a B-plus. The sound is generally clean, especially the vocals, in an era when over-driven distorted vocals seem to be becoming a fad. But as is so often the case, the recording was compressed to make it uniformly loud, which sapped the dynamics of their performance.
Baked Goods are an impressive emerging band who managed to create a nice hybrid sound of jam, funk, rock and even folk influence and the potential to be quite appealing to audiences spanning a couple of generations. - George Graham