Where can you hear the music of Herbie Hancock, Led Zeppelin, John Zorn, Bennie Maupin, Miles Davis, Kool and the Gang, Ron Miles and the Beatles in one evening? At the Fat Mama live show, April 20 at the Gothic Theater.

Mixing elements from bebop, rock, fusion, funk, free-jazz, trip-hop, improv, and jam, Fat Mama groove their way back to Denver after an extensive US tour. Fat Mama became the darlings of the college scene at CU Boulder in 1996. Since then, they astound and ignite audiences with their fluid improvisation and tight, energetic sound.

Their roots lie in the jazz world, but today, a seven-piece ensemble with a DJ, synthesizers, an organ, tenor sax and trumpet can be called any number of things. Fat Mama is Brett Joseph on tenor sax, Jon Gray on trumpet and trombone, Jonathon Golderberger on guitar, Erik Deutsch on electric piano, organ and analog synthesizers, Joe Russo on drums, Jonti Siman on bass, and Kevin Kendrick on vibraphone and turntables.

This is the post-Dead era of seven-hour Phish shows and manic bootleg tape-trading. Fat Mama finds itself perched on a branch somewhere between 70s funk fathers Weather Report and hippie-jam masterminds, moe. Without a vocalist, the tune selection and savage skill of each player outshines any sort of careful pigeonholing, and instead reminds the audience that a live show should lift you off your feet and get you moving.

Music lovers who enjoy an intelligent yet cheeky approach to ensemble music will find all kinds of fun things at a Fat Mama show. No song sounds predictable, no formats bog down the forms, and few tricks appear from more than one sleeve. Cover songs by such diverse artists as those named above do get played in their shows. But the treatment of a cover can be ingenious. They weave in and out of originals deftly and with such assurance, that sometimes the crafty transition from, say, Zeppelin's "No Quarter," complete with jungle-beat breakdown, to the band's own "Pimp Slap," becomes an afterthought.

Getting out of Boulder and playing the East Coast seems to have been a wise decision on the part of this oh-so-young septet. Together for only four years, the band has one self-produced album, "Mamatus," a new live album, a soundtrack to the independent film "Trans" (directed by Goldberger's brother, Julian) and a serious list of admirers to their credit.

Their live shows could be described as Medeski, Martin and Wood with a Dennis Miller approach (or maybe Tom Green?). Fans include jazz legend Horace Silver, Colorado jazz icons Ron Miles and Art Lande, and thousands of jazz-heads and dead-heads across the country.

"I think it's intriguing that these guys are trying to find and create their own place in contemporary music, in their own realm, after coming out of the traditional jazz and improvisational scene," said Miles, local trumpeter and teacher. "All of our music, at it's best, is beyond category." Miles began his affiliation with Fat Mama about three years ago when he was asked by the band to sit in on a show. He had already heard their CD, and welcomed the opportunity to be involved with another generation of Colorado musicians.

Miles will play with the band at the Gothic Theater April 20. "It's great to hear how they have developed since moving East," Miles said. "I'm looking forward to this upcoming show." Fat Mama performs some of Miles' tunes in their live shows. "They play them pretty differently than I ever did," Miles admitted, "but they do them so well, that some I don't even play anymore. They are theirs now."

Where does this sound come from? We have all heard bands that take one melody and somehow stretch it for 14 minutes. Is that all there is too it? Definitely not, because we have also heard bands that are successful and bands whose PA should just give out so we can go home. Fat Mama has three things working for them in this ever-growing but ever-elusive field of original instrumental music: they have a sense of humor, they are astounding individual players, and they know their stuff, inside and out.

Remember that these guys came out of academia in the late 90s. Many music schools, one being CU Boulder, acquiesced to "allow" jazz studies into the music program. Jazz musicians often look to the bebop era as the model for improvisational technique, inspiration, and performance style. Today, however, the young and talented musician has lived through countless musical trends, scandals, excesses, and commercialization that the boppers could only dream of.

The result is a music that blurs all musical prejudices but keeps the hardliners and dreamers happy. All tradition has not gone out the back door, and one can find blowing horns, song charts, and tasty jazz changes next to the DJ scratch, electronica, and "space." How else do you explain a fan-base that includes a college professor, a stay-at-home mom, a dedicated weekend LoDo alcoholic, and the endearing pot-head? As the jam-band scene becomes more and more infused with good intentions and monotony, and the jazz scene continues its Wynton Marsalis traditionalism and presentation, bands like Fat Mama may make crowds re-think what they value in a good night down at the club.

In addition to Ron Miles on trumpet, the April 20 Gothic show (18 and up) begins with the Joe Lukasik Trio, featuring the legendary jazz clarinetist. If you miss that show, Fat Mama plays in Boulder at the Fox Theater Friday night, and in Fort Collins at The Starlight with special guests One Flight Up on Saturday. For more Fat Mama info, see fatmama.com.