Tribal Funk : Ventura’s own Dave Binney and his New York-based jazz band Lost Tribe stopped at Joseppi’s to make the brick walls sweat.

It was not just another typical night last Friday at Joseppi’s, that beloved musical brick house in downtown Santa Barbara.

The band called Lost Tribe--on its way from recording in Hawaii and on its way back home to New York--stopped in for the night. For four hours, it pumped out an intense--yet strangely introspective--brand of funk-jazz with New York written all over it.

And yet somehow, the band fit right in. With its brick walls and the new, surreal window-with-no-function behind the “stage,” Joseppi’s has an East Coast ambience. No ferns. No surf motifs. Close quarters. Dark. Sweaty. Loud. You’ve gotta’ love it.

Manning (and manhandling) the alto saxophone was Dave Binney, who now qualifies as one of Ventura’s official contributions to the current jazz scene.

Binney grew up in Ventura and honed his musical craft in local haunts before heading off to New York City a dozen years ago. He released his debut solo album, “Point Game” on the French-based Owl records, last year.

The music on the album springs from the well of the Brooklyn-based movement known as “M-Base.” It’s a fresh variation on the idea of jazz-rock-funk fusion, full of propulsive energy, but also using intricate polyrhythmic and polytonal strategies.

Binney has also been involved in Lost Tribe for the past three years, culminating now in a coveted record deal with Windham Hill. Ex-Steely Dan man and now jazz producer Walter Becker recorded the group last month at his home studio in Maui.

It all began as a project for NYC school chums, drummer Ben Perowsky, bassist Fima Ephron and guitarist Adam Rogers (who played on Binney’s “Point Game.”) Binney was later enlisted and, more recently, second guitarist David Gilmore was added to the fold.

If the band entity will be new to most listeners, the individual players have made their respective marks on the scene. Perowsky--who packs some punch and also subtlety into his drumming--plays with guitarist Mike Stern and others.

Gilmore (no relation to the David Gilmore of Pink Floyd fame) is a dexterous player who dished out probing solos last Friday night. He’s well-known in the “M-Base” sphere, as one of the elements in Steve Coleman and Five Elements. Saxophonist Coleman was a founder of the “M-Base” faction and remains a prominent figurehead--especially in Europe and Japan, where the music is better appreciated than in the United States.

Both hard-edged and enigmatic, Lost Tribe’s music hits you in the solar plexus but doesn’t forsake the cerebrum. While jazz is the base, the band is not afraid to dig into rock ‘n’ roll-flavored riffs amid the jazz-derived, ethereal chord patterns.

Rhythmic grooves alternate between powerhouse variations on funk and hip-hop and more complex jigsaw arrangements, with contrapuntal parts passed among the players.

Binney’s compositions, as heard on the original material for “Point Game,” walk the fine line between intellect and gut-level energy. “Mythology” opened with a scampering staccato sax line that fed into a potent funk pulse. The two guitars played twister with their interlacing lines.

Binney’s tune “Dick Tracy,” originally written for a band led by drummer Marvin (Smitty) Smith, featured a hypnotic midsection in which Binney worked a phrase in 3/4 time over a bass-drum pattern in 5/4. The sum effect was a dizzy polyrhythmic dance. That’s entertainment!

As a player, Binney wove deftly in and out of key centers, driven by a sense of rhythmic urgency. He placed phrases at odd angles and split tones, mixing grit with gray matter.

Other memorable tunes included Rogers’ loopy-woozy shuffle tune “Rhinoceros,” somewhat reminiscent of Henry Threadgill’s Very Very Circus--also a two-guitar band. Perowsky’s “Letter to the Editor” was an intriguing puzzle of irregularly shaped pieces, adding up to plenty of angular charm.

The only cover tune of the night was a spacious reading of Thelonious Monk’s “Monk’s Mood,” beginning with a long poetic drum solo with brushes and then into a slow, floating reading of the bittersweet melody without any further soloing.

The atmosphere fell somewhere between being prayerful and tipsy--the old Saturday night-Sunday morning dichotomy at the heart of jazz. As Binney explained later, “All you really have to do with that tune is play the melody and let that do the talking.”

Time will tell if the public picks up on Lost Tribe’s bold, non-mainstream sound. Their album is due to come out early next year, and the marketing clout of Windham Hill may help to give the music wider exposure.

Locals of Note

Anyone browsing in the jazz bins or lending an ear to more alternative radio stations recently might have been startled to find Ventura County in the news.

The gifted pianist Glenn Horiuchi’s album, “Oxnard Beet,” was recently released on the respected Italian label, Soul Note. The title composition was earlier featured on Horiuchi’s album, “Poston Sonata,” on his own Asian Improv label.

Lest you’d think that Oxnard was being toasted, Horiuchi wrote the piece in acknowledgment of the historic 1903 Oxnard strike in which Mexican and Japanese workers transcended racial differences to band together.

Fittingly, Horiuchi’s composition combines the Japanese-flavored pentatonic harmonic leanings--which often mark his music--and a Latin rhythm. Here’s further proof that instrumental music can tell powerful stories.

The Ventura County Historical Library ought to pick up a CD for its archives.