Sex Mob

With their playful, genre-crossing cover choices, Sex Mob are a band whose mission is to put the fun back in jazz music. Led by slide trumpeter Steven Bernstein, they've been a maverick presence since their 1998 Knitting Factory debut, Din of Inequity. That album introduced both the group's telepathic improvisational style and directive to turn the standards-centric jazz playbook on its head. It's an approach that has found them tackling songs by artists like Prince and Nirvana, right alongside their adventurous originals on albums like 2000's Solid Sender and 2006's Sexotica. They have also explored the works of Federico Fellini and Duke Ellington, and collaborated with guests like Roswell Rudd and John Medeski. While fun remains at the core of Sex Mob's sound, albums like 2017's all-original Cultural Capital, 2023's electronic-influenced The Hard Way, and 2026's Laurie Anderson with Sexmob Let X=X have found them growing ever more sonically nuanced.