Jazz chops without the dress code. Funk without the nostalgia trip. Improvisation without the homework assignment.

Somewhere between a Bay Area funk outfit, a Seattle basement show, and a jazz club that's gotten out of hand, you'll find Kelly McCarty’s Big Haut Mess. Rooted in jazz but allergic to staying in its lane, this Atlanta-based outfit deals in deep-pocket funk, left-field improvisation, and occasional musical misconduct.

At the center is bassist, composer, and educator Kelly McCarty, wielding a 7-string bass/guitar hybrid pioneered by Charlie Hunter. Part bass, part guitar, part logistical nightmare, the instrument lets McCarty handle the low end and harmony simultaneously, leaving the band plenty of room to misbehave.

The term alt-jazz might be having a moment, but the music's been around for decades. Soulive, Meshell Ndegeocello, Robert Glasper, and others were mixing jazz, funk, soul, and hip-hop long before anyone worried about what to call it. Big Haut Mess is currently snooping around Charlie Hunter's Right Now Move and Natty Dread - two seminal records featuring a three-horn configuration tailor-made for the BHM front line. The arrangements are tight enough to suggest some adult supervision, but the band reserves the right to wander off whenever things get interesting.

McCarty's musical passport is well-worn. He's toured internationally with Grammy-winning band Larkin Poe, performing at Glastonbury, Rock am Ring, Rock im Park, and opening for Queen in Germany. Back in Atlanta, he's worked across Atlanta's jazz, funk, and soul scenes with artists including Grant Green Jr., Karla Harris, Tyrone Jackson, Joe Alterman, BOOM! Trio, Dashill Smith, and Lori Williams. He currently teaches bass at Morehouse College and Georgia State University.

This event will feature Nigel Yancey, Jamel Mitchell, and Richard Sherrington in the front horn line. McCarty and Colin Agnew will make up the battery.