Bassist Todd Phillips got into jazz when he was in high school.
"It was a way back," Phillips said during a phone call from backstage in Boulder, Colo. "I had heard the Byrds and Crosby, Stills and Nash, growing up. Then I got into jazz: Duke Ellington.
"I remember saying to myself as I listened to the music, that the stuff they were playing was physically impossible to do," he said with a laugh.
Phillips is part of the bluegrass/folk/jazz combo called NewGrange.
The band will appear at the Gallivan Utah Center, located at 200 South and State Street, on Thursday, Aug. 10. Showtime is 7:30 p.m.; admission is free.
NewGrange is not your typical band, said Phillips. "All of us are established musicians in our own fields. We just decided to get together and play music that we could have fun with."
The musicians — Phillips, pianist Philip Aaberg, mandolinist/fiddler Darol Anger, banjoist Alison Brown, guitarist Mike Marshall and bouzouki player/vocalist Tim O'Brien — have strong solo careers, but the band has helped them look at music in different ways, said Phillips.
"We're pretty much in the acoustic-music vein," he explained. "But we have learned how to work with each other. Looking back, we can see how diverse we are — I mean Philip is a new-age pianist. But we found how compatible we can be. Having Phil in the band has taken us to different areas where we might not have been able to go. I mean, a piano in a bluegrass band is pretty unusual. But it isn't in a jazz band."
Once the band got working together, getting the music to the people wasn't very difficult, said Phillips. "By the time we were out doing our thing, the term 'Americana music' was already being heard in some music circles. If it wasn't, I don't know how we would have approached what we were doing."
NewGrange's self-titled album was recently released on Compass Records.
"It was fun for us to record," Phillips said. "I met most of them — Tim, Alison and Phil — at (the record label) Windham Hill. We all had an interest in forming a band, and we wanted to see how we would do on a record. It was the logical step in the band's evolution.
"We don't get together and rehearse ahead of time," Phillips said of the recording sessions. "We work within the session and give the songs some structure, but it's up to the individual artist to come up with their own unique addition to the songs and solos.
"All the songs were recorded live without mixes and tracking. We wanted to capture our live sound. And I kind of like to think we did."
Although the other members do have plans for their respective solo careers, Phillips said there is talk of recording a new NewGrange album.
"What is even better is the audience response we've been getting at each of the gigs," he said. "We're not making huge amounts of money with the band. But we're making fans."
E-MAIL: scott@desnews.com