'SOUL' MEN FUNK-ROCK DUO TOOK WELL-TRAVELED PATHS TO SETTLE IN THE KEY OF GROOVE.

Byline: Sandra Barrera Staff Writer

The Soul of John Black is the groove-inspired collaboration between two musicians who got their start playing alongside jazz greats and, in the case of one member, a ska band.

But neither jazz nor ska figures into the Los Angeles duo's self-titled debut, released in July on the philanthropic No Mayo label. Rather, the sound is an integration of rock, blues, folk, hip-hop and - as the band's moniker suggests - soul.

Its subject matter, meanwhile, deals with issues of scandal, love and paranoia.

``This is good-feeling storytelling music,'' says Christopher Thomas, 33, bassist of the band, which plays Saturday at the Temple Bar. ``And at the same time, you can tap your foot to it.''

The critics are not likely to disagree, with Spin magazine imagining, ``This is what Sublime's Brad Nowell hears in Heaven'' and Blender applauding the fact that ``they keep their funk-rock radio friendly and their ballads ... grounded.''

Recently, while sharing sushi rolls and laughs about being turned down for a job in a record store, the duo, which includes John ``JB'' Bigham, were describing how all of this - the band, the music and the album - happened overnight.

Well, sort of.

The Soul of John Black was formed in L.A. in 1997, after Bigham gave notice to Fishbone, the L.A. ska-hybrid that stole him away from the Miles Davis band.

Bigham played electronic percussions for Davis in the late '80s and even wrote for him the song ``Jilli,'' which first appeared on ``Amandla,'' the lyrical jazz trumpeter's 1989 studio recording.

``I would write songs and he would critique my work,'' Bigham says. ``I was sort of like his protege.''

So, why quit?

``I got bored,'' Bigham, now 44, admits.

He likewise grew restless during his eight-year stint with Fishbone, which began with the 1991 full-length release ``The Reality of My Surroundings.''

According to Bigham, his dream - besides full-time employment in a record store, a post for which he was overlooked time and time again - was to branch out as a singer-songwriter. Only, as he puts it, he couldn't hit all the high notes.

Not at first, anyway.

``I didn't understand that you put it in the key that's best for you,'' Bigham says, explaining he learned this trick from an interview he saw on TV with Frank Sinatra's longtime piano player.

As soon as Bigham tuned down his guitar, he discovered that he could in fact sing.

So, he quit Fishbone and immediately began looking for a groove-style bass player to collaborate with.

Thomas, whom Bigham had met through a mutual musician friend, fit the bill.

``Chris came over and we jammed,'' Bigham says. ``And that was it.''

Of course it would be a few years before anything came of the creative partnership.

Bigham and Thomas, the latter of whom spent the early part of his career as backing bassist for jazz vocalist Betty Carter, were busy working as studio and touring musicians for other artists such as Eminem and Marianne Faithful.

It wasn't until after finishing a tour with Everlast that the duo settled into a shared apartment in L.A. and began working on what would eventually become its debut.

``We started writing that night,'' Bigham recalls. ``At first we'd both stay up, and then after a while ... we'd take turns.''

For a month the duo traded off between night and day shifts, writing songs to which they would later add lyrics.

The neighbors in this close-knit community, fortunately, were OK with the blaring music coming from Bigham and Thomas' apartment at 4 a.m.

``Somebody who lived on the fourth floor (of a neighboring apartment building) would be like, 'Hey man, I liked that one song,' and they'd be singing the lyrics,'' Thomas says. ``And we'd be like ... cool ... OK, that's working. We weren't thinking about, 'We need to close the windows.'

``And then we'd start hearing, 'I really wish those guys would close their window,' '' he recalls, laughing.

As it turns out, the album completed by the Soul of John Black was a collaborative effort between the band and its neighbors.

It was the neighbors who picked the songs to be recorded and determined the order in which the songs appeared.

From the song about a man down on his luck (``Two Strikes'') to a cheating girlfriend (``Scandalous'') to a bicoastal love affair (``Joy''), the album, like the band, was listener-approved from the start.

So says Bigham.

``This is just about creating music,'' he says, ``creating art ... forming a unit that can, and will, always put out something worthwhile. You can count on it.''

Sandra Barrera, [phone]

sandra.barrera(at)dailynews.com

THE SOUL OF JOHN BLACK

Where: Temple Bar, 1026 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica.

When: 10:30 p.m. Saturday.

Tickets: $10 (21 and over). Call [phone] or www.templebarlive.com.

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The Soul of John Black - Christopher Thomas, left, and John ``JB'' Bigham - plays at the Temple Bar in Santa Monica Saturday.