Living Daylights - Falling Down Laughing (1995)

Fusing jazz with funk and rock, Living Daylights is an adventurous avant-garde trio that came out of Seattle in the 1990s. The group has favored an inside/outside approach--as left-of-center as Daylights can be, its recordings have been quite musical and emphasized recognizable melodies and themes. Daylights consists of saxophonist Jessica Lurie, electric bassist Arne Livingston and drummer Dale Fanning, all of whom had been living in Seattle when they met but have also worked in other cities. Lurie has played and recorded with the Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet, while Fanning has played with Mark Whitfield and Livingston has freelanced for such Young Lions as Roy Hargrove, Joshua Redman and Antonio Hart. Daylights' debut album, Falling Down Laughing, came out in 1995 and was followed by its 1997-8 recording 500 Pound Cat. Electric Rosary was issued in fall 2000.~Alex Henderson