The Flail

The Flail formed in NYC around 2001.  The five of us met while attending The New School and would often retreat to Reid’s basement apartment on 19th Street to listen to vinyl and for ‘flailing.’  To the sounds of Monk, Mingus, Ornette, MacLean and Miles, we would flail as friends would come and go throughout the day and night.  During this time, we all started playing together and would ‘rehearse’ in ‘le dungeon.’  Dan started to arrange songs from composers we all really dug like Ellington, Monk and Ornette.  We still play some of these early arrangements. The Flail has always had a focus on composition and storytelling.  Titles such as Sunny Day in Mongerville, I Love France, Bub’s Funeral March, Long Neck Beast, Les Arcs, Facebook Stalker Meets Craigslist Girl (A Modern Lovestory) tell tales both personal and universal. All of us have contributed songs to The Flail throughout the years and now have a songbook of over 40 Flail originals documented on 5 albums (Live in France, Never Fear, The Flail, Live at Smalls, Not Dead Yet.) We have been playing in NYC for over 20 years at clubs like Smalls and Dizzy’s and throughout France including the festivals Jazz a Vienne and Festival du Cinq Continents.  Jazz ensembles can be difficult to keep together, but The Flail has maintained its original 5 members with only one change in 20 years (drummer Charles Goold replaced Matt Zebroski in 2014.) The next album to be released will feature my suite, Day In the Life of a Jazz Musician.’ We plan to record it in fall 2023 and release it on Red Palace Records in 2024.