Founded by Birmingham musician J. Willoughby in 2009, the Black Jacket Symphony travels throughout the Southeast, performing classic rock albums on what drummer Mark Lanier described as “a note-by-note, sound-by-sound quest to replicate the original sound.”
“The premise is to replicate a classic album,” said Lanier, a drum-set instructor in the jazz studies department at The University of Alabama and online instructor of a music appreciation course at The University of Alabama in Birmingham. “This isn’t a band tribute, but more of an album tribute.”
Featuring a core bank of musicians performing alongside a rotation of other musicians chosen as the best fits for each show, the group has performed classic albums such as Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon,” Led Zeppelin’s “Houses of the Holy” and The Beatles’ “Abbey Road,” the album Willoughby said started it all.
“In 2009, ‘Abbey Road’ turned 40, and I thought about how amazing it was that people were still talking about it,” Willoughby said. “I heard a radio ad for a Mozart symphony performance, and I wondered why no one did that for classic bands.”
The group operates on a principle of replicating each album they perform as close to the original as possible and bears the slogan “the symphony of our generation.”
“It’s an absolute approach to music,” Lanier said. “You have an experience that you’re having that album performed live. No one’s pretending.”
Brent McCollough, a keyboardist for the group, has played in several performances, including The Beatles, Paul McCartney and Prince. He said the replication process has been a challenge.
“They learn the album completely by ear, and program the sounds they need,” he said. “It takes a lot of skill to digest and memorize it all. You have to find out what they’re doing so you can practice and perform it to get the right sounds.”
Lanier said while the band has “Symphony” in its title, it is at its core a rock band.
“The name is a play on the idea of a symphony,” Lanier said. “We want the audience to experience the music and all the parts of a show, with lights and video that make it a visual and audio experience. It’s not a typical tribute.”
The band has recently performed at venues in Memphis, Tennessee; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Mobile, Alabama, and will perform The Beatles’ “The White Album” in Huntsville before coming to Tuscaloosa.
“There’s usually a trajectory with what albums we perform,” Willoughby said. “We start with ‘Dark Side of the Moon,’ which is an album that needs to be heard together and really explains what we do before we move into other bands like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Doors and Fleetwood Mac. As we grow, there’s a proven trajectory that works.”
McCollough said the group aims to give classic music fans a new experience.
“If you’re into classic music that you’ll never hear live from the real band, this is the closest way to gain appreciation for this music,” he said. “I’ve grown to love this music because I’ve been thrown in and forced to learn it all.”
Willoughby said the group aims to introduce classic bands and albums to a new generation.
“Every generation says they have the best music, but there aren’t bands like the Beatles and Pink Floyd anymore,” he said. “Albums aren’t put together like that. That’s not a good or bad thing; it’s just how it is.”
Tickets for the event are $25 for the balcony and $30 for the main floor.
