Ensemble that re-imagines iconic Phish songs as jazz coming to Lexington

Chris Bullock isn’t the kind of musician who indulges in down time too much. His concert itinerary as winter gives way to spring comes packed with dates by four different bands in just under two months.

He began March by touring with his own ensemble, a new endeavor after years as a sought-after sideman. His string of West Coast dates came in support of a new solo album called “Boomtown” that meshes jazz, chamber, electronic music and more. Fast forward to April and Bullock will hit the road with the Grammy-winning jazz fusion troupe Snarky Puppy, which released its newest album, “Immigrance,” last week. Pull back into mid-March and the saxophonist, along with Snarky Puppy’s full four-member horn section, aptly dubbed the Snarky Horns, squeezed in a few shows of their own culminating in a three-day residency at Marietta College.

What of the fourth outfit, you say? That’s the one that brings Bullock to Lexington this weekend. It’s an all-star groove collective with strong jazz sensibilities offering their spin on the music of veteran jam band Phish. Its name is also efficiently appropriate – Jazz is Phish. With such a performance project on Bullock’s radar for the next few weeks, one might surmise he is a seasoned Phish fan.

“I’ve got to be honest with you,” Bullock said. “I haven’t really listened to Phish all that much. When I was in high school, I had a couple of their albums, but I never went deep down into the Phish rabbit hole like some people do. I very much respect them, though. I feel like they use their platform well and have had a lot of cool musicians play with them.”

As it turns out, one of those cool players is himself. While the rotating roster of artists that tour, depending on availability, as Jazz as Phish have myriad studio and touring credits to brag about (from the Sun Ra Arkestra to the Dave Matthews Band), Bullock is among the few to have actually collaborated with Phish itself. He is featured as part of a massive woodwind and horn section that helped orchestrate “Petrichor,” the 13-minute finale composition to Phish’s most recent studio album, 2016’s “Big Boat.”

“I have a good friend, (trumpeter) Jennifer Hartswick, who is in (guitarist) Trey Anastasio’s band outside of Phish. When Phish was making this new record, they needed a bunch of woodwinds and so Jen recommended me. I spent a couple of days in the studio with Trey and the producers. That’s my connection with the band.”

The Jazz is Phish work began at roughly the same time and was cemented by the 2017 release of the band’s so-far-only recording, “He Never Spoke A Word.” Led by group drummer Adam Chase and his guitarist/brother Matthew Chase, the album opens with the spacious fusion groove of “Ghost” and the record’s most distinctive element, the steel drum playing of Jonathan Scale. Much of the rest of “He Never Spoke a Word,” though, sports a brassy, electric animation that is more reminiscent of Frank Zappa than Phish.

“It’s very obvious in listening to the music of Phish that they have checked out a lot of Frank Zappa,” Bullock said. “There is a theatrical element to it. But Zappa also had contributors like George Duke, who is one of my favorite musicians, adding this kind of urban R&B element to the sound. There were a bunch of different things coming together. There has definitely been an influence of Zappa upon the musicians of Phish.”

“With Jazz is Phish, I helped arrange some of the tunes. I helped re-imagine them and put them in a different context, which was kind of a fun challenge. To some fans, these songs can be iconic and stuck in a certain way. I like to take a song and flip it to where people aren’t used to hearing it the same way.”

Among the contributing players to Jazz to Phish in recent years was flutist/keyboardist Kofi Burbridge, best known for his higher profile work with Tedeschi Trucks Band. He died in February of complications that arose from heart surgery.

“He was a beautiful human being who always had a smile on his face,” Bullock said of Burbridge. “He always had a positive energy you would feel when he came into a room that was really, really special. And his musicianship was amazing. He always found a way to raise the level of the vibe and the music.”

If you go: Jazz is Phish featuring Chris Bullock

When: 9 p.m. March 23

Where: Cosmic Charlie’s, 105 W. Loudon Ave.

Tickets: $18

Call: 859-475-6096

Online: cosmic-charlies.com, jazzisphish.com.