Bird Land

With the exception of Wednesday nights this month, HBW no longer has its regular weekly show at the AQ. But when the band does play, it’s always at the AQ. “I suppose it would feel strange to do it anywhere else,” Granros says, “just because we haven’t.”

HBW’s musicians may be local, but they can—and do—hold their own when they’re playing with their other bands in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, and other cities bigger and ostensibly more cosmopolitan than Minneapolis or St. Paul. Likewise, their chops equal those of nationally and internationally prominent musicians who tour through the Twin Cities. “I interact with national acts every day,” says Horst. “There’s some stuff here that’s every bit as good as bands that are famous and playing a lot in New York. A lot of folks who live here blow off resident musicians because there’s a constant influx of national people here. There’s this perception that, ‘If it’s local, it can’t be that good.’ ”

“People who don’t know jazz tend to know more about the Twin Cities’ rock scene,” says Pat Courtemanche, a public relations specialist who does promotional work for many Twin Cities jazz musicians and clubs, including the AQ. “In other cities, if you say you’re from here, the average person will say, ‘Oh, that’s where Prince is from.’ But the insiders know about our jazz. If you meet the owner of a Chicago club and say you’re from the Twin Cities, they’ll immediately say, ‘That’s a great scene.’ ”

According to everyone interviewed for this story, Granros is the epitome of a local musician whose artistic talent and perspective are global. He worked full-time as a musician for twelve years—“It was pretty much all I did through the ‘70s,” he says—before becoming a computer programmer. “The thing about doing a different sort of job,” he says, “is that it sort of freed me up to play what I wanted to play.”

“Dean’s on a different level,” Schimke says. “Talk about someone who’s hidden away, but plays on a world level.” He recalls a night when jazz-influenced classic rock band Steely Dan was in town at the Xcel, and after the concert, their sound guys caught HBW’s show. “We covered the Steely Dan song ‘Do it Again,’ ” Schimke says. “Dean was on Mars. Those guys had a riot.”

Schimke has the group’s most eclectic musical resumé. He got his start in the Twin Cities’ influential early ‘80s pop scene as a drummer with an outfit called The New Psychenauts. Over the years, he’s worked with Gary Louris of The Jayhawks, Julee Cruise, who sang much of Angelo Badalamenti’s Twin Peaks music, and other prominent musicians. Last year, he put out a CD of engaging piano-and-sax duets with legendary Irv Williams, and he’s in constant demand for various rock, jazz, and other projects.

As soon as HBW took the stage that cold night, the members’ distinct personalities were apparent. Schimke, whose swept-forward hair and skinny frame screamed “rock-flavored-alt-country,” sat on the left at a Yamaha grand. Granros, center-left on a stool and hunched over a guitar modeled after the Black Guitar made famous by Howard Roberts—a player to whom Granros is often compared—could have been a serious-minded high school math or science teacher. Horst, all the way right, behind a simple kit, was the closest thing to flashy, with tinted glasses, gold jewelry, and suede high-heeled boots accenting his black shirt and slacks. Bates, who currently gigs with a shifting set of about fifteen different, mostly jazz- and funk-based, bands, was in the back, as bassists often are. He wore a tight-fitting stocking cap, jeans, and untucked flannel, and looked as if he’d been at the Wild game earlier in the evening.