Spafford

jam band · rock

Spafford is an American jam band formed in Prescott, Arizona in 2009, after guitarist Brian Moss and bassist Jordan Fairless began playing open mic nights together the previous year; the group is now based in Phoenix. Its improvisational sets pull from rock, funk, jazz, reggae, ska and electro-pop, with transitions built inside and between songs so that no two performances repeat, and setlists and cover arrangements change nightly. The current lineup is Moss on guitar and vocals, Cory Schechtman on keys and vocals, Nick Tkachyk on drums and vocals, and Shon Gordon on bass and vocals. Schechtman became the permanent keyboardist in late 2022, after Andrew 'Red' Johnson left at the end of that year, and Gordon took over from founding bassist Fairless, who departed in March 2025; Cameron LaForest filled the drum chair between 2017 and 2019. Spafford self-releases its recordings. The studio catalog includes the self-titled Spafford (2012), Abaculus: An Improvisational Experience (2017), For Amusement Only (2018), The Gaff Tapes and Chapel Jam (both 2019), Simple Mysteries (2022) and Cat Shop (2026), which the band bills as its fourth studio album proper. Alongside these it maintains an unusually large archive of official live releases, including multi-volume Live and Live Wax sets and soundboard recordings issued show by show through Bandcamp. The band has played Bonnaroo, Electric Forest, Firefly, Summer Camp, Lockn', the Peach Music Festival, Sweetwater 420 Fest and BottleRock Napa Valley, and earlier in its run Gem and Jam, Euphoria and the McDowell Mountain Music Festival.

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