An exhilarating musical experience rattled the walls of Jack's Patio Bar and Grill on Friday night. St. James Infirmary, Jumping Monks and Fatback Circus displayed a unique modern sound uncommon in San Antonio.

All three bands were similar in that they all had a modernized funk or blues/jazz sound but differed in their method of portraying these new modern sounds.

St. James Infirmary started the show with an edgy, blues sound. The vocals pierced through the crowd with moving and clever lyrics.

James Phillips, a senior music education major, sings vocals and plays bass in the band. Phillips described the band's sound in an unusual way.

"It's dirty. We make it as dirty as we possibly can. We don't want to sound bad, just dirty," Phillips said.

Other band members agree with the unusual description.

"It's upbeat, dance grooves. It's a blues-flavored dirt," Jaime Ramirez, who plays keyboard, harmonica and sings vocals, said.

The strong influence of power rock in San Antonio has given the band a new perspective.

"It seems that rock has dominated the city so long that it's time for a change. This is not to say we are jumping on a bandwagon; I like to think we are part of a new edge on leading new music in the San Antonio area," J.J. Greene, guitarist, said.

The band plans to release a CD in winter '08 featuring original and cover songs.

Following St. James Infirmary was Jumping Monks, who stepped up the momentum set by the previous band. The band began the set involving the crowd in the music. They encouraged them to clap their hands on beat, and the band played on top of the crowd's beat.

Starting strong, the band had an in-your-face sound. The music reached out and pulled the crowd into it like an invisible arm.

At one point, the band resonated Dave Matthews Band with soft, powerful vocals and artistic, funk instrumentation.

Towards the end of the set, the band played a medley of covers including "Do You Love Me," "Baby Got Back," "Brick House" and "Give It Away." During the medley, the band also experimented with different genres of music like Tejano.

Jumping Monks made the audience an equal part of the show, which added to the experience.

Travis Ripps, bassist and vocals, described the band's sound as a mix of funk and rock.

"We pride ourselves on making good music but also on entertaining as well," Ripps said.

The band recently played with Vanilla Ice in Houston and said they picked up a lot of fans that way. The band was interviewed by a magazine in the U.K. where they have a substantial European fan base.

But the band stays true to Texas. They love folk music. Weston Ripps, a senior music major who plays drums and sings lead vocals, described the sound as Texas funk rock.

"They will not hear another band like us in San Antonio-or in Texas for that matter," Ripps said.

The band has released one album that has been compared to the Red Hot Chili Peppers' sound. While that maybe be a huge accomplishment, the band is working on a second album that is specific to their original sound.

The final band, Fatback Circus, wowed the crowd with Nathan Campbell's breath-taking and stunning vocals. The band cut through the noise of the anticipating crowd with blaring trumpet, engaging and exciting the audience into a big band sound.

Fatback Circus had extraordinary musical execution-every instrument sound meshed perfectly for a superior musical experience. The band's happy, catchy music invited every audience member to stand and get into the music.

With two guitarists and an extraordinarily talented bassist, Fatback's ensemble was something to marvel. The trio kept stringing out one amazing, guitar riff after another.

The saxophone and trumpet players added a juicy funk sound, setting the band apart from the other bands.

The band's harmonies add depth to their vocal sound.

"We are on a song-by-song basis. We used to be a funk band with a different singer, and when we switched singers, an explosion of different sounds and ideas we hadn't done before happened," Campbell said.

The band's concept is not based on the music as a whole, but on instead individual songs.

"Each song is its own idea. We take one idea for each song and exaggerate it," he said.

The band recently made a music video for their song "Jessica" and is available for viewing on myspace.com/fatback circus and YouTube.

"There is a style of music that is out there, and it is getting common for bands to explore different sounds so much that each song sounds like a different band. It's a good style," Campbell said.

All three bands were intense and extremely talented. But St. James Infirmary likes to quote Dr. Silantien, a music professor at UTSA to describe their performances.

"Drive it to the edge of intense without falling off," Salintien said.