“Canceled Check” (PDF) from the Beck album, Mutations

By the time that alt-folk hero Beck had returned to Los Angeles in 1991, the third wave of ska music had approached its breaking point. Afro-rock bands like Fishbone introduced ska rhythms into California punk and heavy metal, while Hollywood horn sections blended jazz and latin music with Jamaican influences. If the British wave was a ska revival, then the American West Coast-style was to expand upon the boundaries of the genre.

Jump With Joey, a septet of session musicians led by bassist Joey Altruda, held a residency at the King King Club where the band performed jump blues, latin jazz, and ska music inspired by the high-energy performances of Los Angeles’ underground scene. The popularity of the band’s residency could be responsible for both the swing band revival and the pop-punk-with-horns movements of the late-nineties. But it was Joey’s band members - guitarist Smokey Hormel, trombonist David Ralicke, and trumpeter Elliot Caine - who were recruited by Beck to perform the genre-blending style responsible for the songwriter’s crossover appeal into mainstream music.

Here is a YouTube video of Jump With Joey featured on Los Angeles television:

Recommended reading: Hell of a Hat: The Rise of ‘90s Ska and Swing by Kenneth Partridge. Published by Penn State University Press.