“The way I’ve described it to people is that it’s laser-targeted to appeal to nobody,” says a smirking Brian Wecht, the mastermind behind smooth jazz persona Trey Magnifique. “Because it’s not funny enough to be comedy, and it’s not jazzy enough to be jazz. I don’t know how much I want to stand by this, but for a while, it was my goal to make something that in some sense is truly bad.”

Wecht is calling in on a Zoom from his hotel room in Portland, Oregon, where he’s rehearsing for his current tour with Starbomb, one of his many musical projects that has gained fame on the internet. He’s wryly self-deprecating, but clearly invested in his newer work as Trey Magnifique, the self-obsessed saxophonist donning an all-white suit (with no shirt underneath, of course). “I would under no circumstances actually describe this as bad. Like, no, I love it. I think it’s really fun and good. I love the songs. I’m proud of the songwriting,” he says, chuckling.

Wecht is certainly familiar with the uncomfortable space between worlds, as he’s most well-known as half of musical comedy duo Ninja Sex Party, but he also holds a PhD in physics and has a keen interest in crossword puzzle design. Ninja Sex Party is one of the most popular musical comedy bands working today, with many of their songs and music videos garnering millions of views. Wecht plays the “ninja” in question, a silent role heavily dependent on physical comedy, alongside writing and synth duties.

Wecht released his first album as Trey Magnifique in 2023, titled Mature Situations, and will be releasing his sophomore effort Bebop Cowboy this Friday, September 18. He notes that the inspiration to branch out into solo work in a slightly more “serious” genre struck when pondering his place in the overall comedy scene.

“Probably not quite 10 years ago, I was just trying to think of what’s another fun thing to work on. And I was trying to answer the question, ‘What’s something that I feel that only I could do?’ Like, what’s a unique thing to my skillset and not other people’s. And I was like, ‘Oh, I play the saxophone.’ I was also trying to think about how much saxophone-based comedy is out there, and the answer is not a hell of a lot,” Wecht says.

“I was also thinking, OK, what type of jazz? Smooth jazz seemed ripe for doing stuff. You know, in the traditional jazz world, people hate smooth jazz. Like, they hate it with conviction. I mean, that is an understatement. They loathe smooth jazz, and partly that is jealousy because it’s extremely popular. That’s always been interesting to me because, from a traditional standpoint, smooth jazz is very simple. It’s more about vibes than chops, even though I think most of the people playing at a high level are insanely good instrumentalists. And I’ve always been fascinated by the disconnect between these people who can really play and by any metric are incredible at their instruments, and the disdain that traditional jazz people have for what they choose to do. So I thought that might be a fun thing to like, you know, explore.”

Bebop Cowboy is a confidently out-there project from Wecht, both an ode to jazz musicians across subgenres and a gentle parody of the machismo attitude historically present in many of these scenes. “Let’s Do This Thing,” the second single out last week with an accompanying video, is a great example; the music itself is reminiscent of James Bond-era jazz scores, and the video showcases multiple Trey Magnifiques engaging in a variety of hyper-masculine activities like gambling and drinking whisky. There are plenty of visual gags to boot as well, keeping Wecht’s background in comedy and improv in focus.

Wecht notes that most tracks on Bebop Cowboy are “specific vibe references” to other artists, such as the Brubeck-inspired “Tight Five.” The production process, which took place at Taurus Recordings in Toronto, was tailored to this homage-oriented mindset. Wecht worked with longtime collaborator Commander Meouch of synth-funk band TWRP in the studio as a producer and bassist, with the other members of TWRP on their respective instruments.

“Taurus has a great synth library. So we were using, you know, original ‘80s and ‘90s, and in some cases, ‘70s synths,” Wecht says excitedly. “When we recorded the first album, we had someone race across Toronto with a factory reset card for an M1. Because we just needed the slap bass on the M1–that’s the Seinfeld slap bass sound. So for both these records we tried to use a lot of like actual vintage real synths, not soft synths on the computer.”

Wecht’s working relationship with Meouch has proven to be helpful both technically and creatively, as Wecht asked for input during the writing process of Bebop Cowboy, which he mentions was very different from Mature Situations.

“I was more intentional about the writing. I was like, ‘I’m going to sit down.’ What I did with this one that I didn’t do with the last one is I scheduled the recording before I had finished writing the album. So I had a clear deadline. I had probably half the album written and I wanted to do the thing where I write way more than I use, which is not the case for, for example, Ninja Sex Party, where nothing is left on the floor pretty much.”

“So I could bang out fragments or pieces or whatever, and then send them out and be like, ‘What do you think? Does this one got any juice to it?’ I probably wrote a double the amount we ended up using on that album. And some of those are still pretty good! And some of them are just hot trash,” Wecht laughs. “It’s good to have a partner I can show stuff to and be like, ‘I liked this. Then I hated it. Now I might like it again.’ Meouch is Canadian, so he won’t be like, ‘This one sucks.’ He’ll be like, (in a Canadian accent) ‘Oh, I don’t know there.’”

Even though Bebop Cowboy is in its infancy, Wecht is already looking towards the future with new ideas for the next Trey Magnifique project.

“The thing that I’m most excited about next—although this is such a bad idea, which all my ideas are—I want to do a big band version of this, because smooth jazz in a big band sucks,” Wecht says with an impish grin. “The problem I have with that, there are several, one is it’s financially irresponsible.”

“The other is that I would consider myself a B-minus sax player,” Wecht says. “Like, I can get by; I can’t do the fast bebop stuff, but I have a pretty good tone, but I’m not, like, that good. To play around actual jazz musicians is humiliating because these are the best people in the world at their instruments, and I’m just like, ‘What am I doing?’ You know, I can’t keep up with them, like, literally at all. So why would I want to surround myself with 15 of the best musicians I know, all of whom are demonstrably and obviously better at jazz than I am, but hey, maybe that’s part of the thing.”

Despite Wecht’s insistence on downplaying his own artistry, Bebop Cowboy is an album clearly made with both expert songwriting and a genuine love for the art form. The tracks are catchy, groovy, appealing to existing jazz fans, vaporwave enjoyers, and relative newcomers only familiar with Wecht’s work in other genres.

Wecht leaves off on a note about collaboration as a major part of what drives him. “This is, basically, a thing I’m making with my best friends who are the guys in TWRP and Tom D’Arcy who recorded it. My wife Rachel does vocals on a track. Dallas Kruse, who does a lot of the string arranging for Ninja Sex Party, does vocals with her,” Wecht says.

“I think something that might get lost is that while it’s billed to me in character, it’s really an excuse for me to hang out with musicians and people I love and make something stupid.”

Bebop Cowboy will be available to stream everywhere on September 18. Pre-order the album here.

Trey Magnifique will be performing on December 9 with Flula Borg at Gold Diggers in Los Angeles. Keep an eye out for tickets!

Photos by Sela Shiloni