One of Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst‘s current endeavors is hosting a weekly jazz night every Thursday at the Black Rabbit Rose In Los Angeles, CA. The event has been titled ‘Fred’z With A Z‘ and finds Durst serving as the ringleader of sorts for a series of jazz performances and magic tricks throughout the night. Laweeky.com caught up with Durst to discuss the undertaking, which Durst describes a passion project, rather than something he makes money off of. He said of his inspiration for the event:
“I’m a big fan of jazz. I have been for a long time. It’s not necessarily something that people who know me from Limp Bizkit know about me personally. It’s one of the things I’m really fond of, so I travel around to different spots to hear different players. Some word-of-mouth stuff. Sometimes some older cats.
- Advertisement -I’m just really impressed with the new generations … they’ve had an emotional reaction and connection to jazz at such young ages. It just blows my mind. It’s fascinating. So after traveling around for a while to different spots, I thought, “I’d like to have my own night.” Maybe if I put together the right collective of young cats and [they] wanna do something kind of sexy and cool. And then the whole ‘La La Land‘ thing … I thought the timing was unbelievable and serendipitous.
I already had the players I wanted to work with, so I started having them out to my house and getting familiar with them. Once I found the core trio, I started poking around to see how I could do a jazz night.
So luckily and ironically, the Houston brothers heard I really liked jazz and they had wanted to do a jazz night, so they reached out. I said absolutely, if we had the right spot. So they had me check out Black Rabbit Rose. Just the vibe of the spot felt really cool and good … [so] we said, “Let’s just wing it and try it.”
He’s also well aware of his reputation with Limp Bizkit seemingly clashing with the prestige of jazz, to which he offered:
“Having my name attached to this night is one thing that was a little awkward. I said, we’ve got to call it “Fred’z With a Z”. And they said, “OK, F-R-E-D-apostrophe-S.” And I said, “No, it’s ‘Fred’z With a Z.’”
I felt like a target, you know. Like someone’s gonna see this and think, “Oh, Fred Durst’s doing a jazz night? What’s this, lounge versions of ‘Nookie’?” I just don’t know how people perceive it. I’ve had people come up to me and ask, “When are you singing? Are you gonna play one of your songs?” And I laugh and say, “I don’t think so, not tonight.”
As for the long-awaited new Limp Bizkit album, Durst who apparently continues to rework the effort, offered:
“I still perform and manage Limp Bizkit. We’re very selective of where we play. I think I’m gonna be releasing some new material. But my film directing is about to be in a very wonderful place. I’ve been working on it for a long time, making sure that I’m in the “no” business. I say “no” a lot. I get the opportunities my way but they might not be the most substantial or credible. All the reality shows hit me up. I guess they think, “Clearly the guy from Limp Bizkit would be a great candidate for a reality show.” So I have to say “no” to them all the time…”
For a lot more on Durst‘s jazz passion, his favorite artists from the genre and more, head to Laweeky.com.
Comments