As a singer, Mary Corso straddles two separate, intertwined musical worlds.
Corso fronts Beau Sasser’s Escape Plan, an organ-powered jam-band from Northampton, Mass., with guitarists Danny Mayer and Justin Henricks, drummer Bill Carbone and Sasser, a Hammond B3 master. Corso sings her verses and choruses, then lays back (and dances, along with most of the audience) while the instrumentalists improvise, sometimes for long stretches.
Broca’s Area, however, a quartet featuring fellow Hartt School grads Leo Catricala (bass) and Stephen Cusano (drums) and Hartt junior Mike Carabello (keys), is closer to Corso’s heart. She co-writes the music. Until his departure in December, she shared vocal duties with rapper Ghazi Omair; now, she’s the sole figure up front.
“I’m still the same person, but it’s a whole different musical thing for me,” Corso says. “With the jam-band thing, I have to be more high-energy. I have to work with the instrumentalists more, and it’s more instrumental-based music. I don’t really sing as much. With Broca’s, I’m the main instrument.”
Broca’s Area performs on the Bandshell Stage of the Meriden Daffodil Festival at Hubbard Park on April 30 at 3:15 p.m.
The two-day, free festival, which continues May 1, is in its 38th year, and one of the state’s best showcases for local music. In addition to Broca’s Area, this year’s lineup includes performances by “The Voice” contestant Braiden Sunshine, psych-blues rockers the Balkun Brothers, New London singer-songwriter Daphne Lee Martin, the expansive funk band West End Blend, New Haven showman Frank Viele, Daffy Fest stalwarts the Sawtelles and 22 other acts, stretched out across three stages. The music begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
On two EPs released last year, “Clarity” and “That Way,” Broca’s Area plays low-slung R&B, jazz-funk and hip-hop, with side-trips into tense minor keys and odd meters. There’s indie-rock moodiness on “Hero,” along with frantic, politically charged verses from Omair and Corso’s memorable hook.
Being a guitarless rhythm section pays dividends on “Things Fall Apart,” in the delicate interplay between Carabello, Catricala and Cusano. “That Way,” the song and the video that accompanied its release, is pure Corso: sultry, exuberant and deeply chill, even as strings and voices erupt around her.
Broca’s Area isn’t quite party music, but it can go there.
“We do more of a jazz/R&B thing that doesn’t really go in the jam-band scene,” Corso says. “It’s cool to be a part of two different worlds.”
Corso, Cusano and Catricala took classes together at Hartt.
“We would bring in originals or arrangements of covers,” she says, speaking of an arranging class, where Cusano was also enrolled. “Steve was friends with Leo. He told me Leo was writing these really great songs, these cool originals.”
Corso and Catricala started working together at the beginning of 2014. “As a singer, working with a bass player was pretty helpful, because they help with the whole dynamic of the song and the melody and harmony,” Corso says. “It was good to have a writing partner to help me.”
Carabello replaced the band’s original keyboard player and started helping with the songs. Last year, Broca’s Area took home Best New Band and Best R&B/Soul/Funk honors at the 2015 CT Music Awards, and also performed at the ceremony at Hartford’s Infinity Hall.
Like Corso, other band members have busy musical lives outside of Broca’s. Cusano plays drums for Wise Old Moon, the country-leaning project of singer-songwriter Connor Zane Millican. Carabello performs and records with bandleader Orice Jenkins and leads his own jazz quartets, sometimes with Catricala on double bass.
With Broca’s, “the style is a lot quieter, more mellow,” Corso says. “It has that jazz thing that I had at school, which feels more at home to me. It’s a great outlet for me to have. It’s in a different musical world than the jam-band stuff. … It’s really refreshing to get to sing my own originals.”
Broca’s Area is currently working on a full-length album with Paulie Philippone of Hartford band West End Blend at his home studio.
“We literally just started the process, so we’re still figuring it out,” Corso says. “[Philippone] has a really good ear for figuring out what we’re going for. As we record more, we get better at it. We’re trying to savor new songs and not spoil them too early.”
And while Broca’s Area has gigs coming up, Corso savors the band’s time in the studio.
“We want to put out really good recorded music and putting out great videos,” Corso says. “We want to gig as much as possible, but that’s not the main motivation for our group. It’s to create. I feel that the recorded music is more of the priority.”
Broca’s Area plays April 30 at 3:15 p.m. as part of the Meriden Daffodil Festival at Hubbard Park. The festival, which includes dozens of musical acts, continues May 1. The music starts at 11 a.m. both days. Admission is free. Information: daffodilfest.com.
