Deninzon’s journey to the stratosphere

May 15, 2014 at 12:00a.m.

Moving slowly ahead is how Northeast Ohio native Joe Deninzon describes his musical evolution.

Take for instance Stratospheerius — Deninzon (electric violin, mandolin and vocals), Aurelien Budynek (guitar), Jamie Bishop (bass) and Patrick Carmichael (drums) — which on its most-recent album “The Next World ...” combines progressive hard rock with jam band, funk, jazz and gypsy sounds.

“My group started out as a jazz-fusion band and went more and more into the realm of rock ’n’ roll,” said Deninzon, a 1993 Brush High School graduate who now calls New Jersey home. “So I started singing more and more. I was trying to find a way to intertwine the voice and the virtuosic violin stuff I do.”

Basically, Deninzon said he wanted to take Stratospheerius, which plays a free show Friday at Halligan Bar & Grille in Youngstown, to its next world with its most harmonious effort to date.

Standout tracks include the social commentary “One Foot in the Next World,” the fast-fiddle fury of “Gods,” the Rush-meets-Dave Matthews Band-esque “Release” and the epic “The Prism.”

“I’ve always been a lover of songs and songwriting,” Deninzon said. “I tend to get bored listening to a lot of instrumental music for too long. I just love singing, and it’s a big part of what we do. I always imagined the group as being like the Mahavishnu Orchestra, but with more vocals in it.”

As for digressing into the prog-rock realm, it should come as a surprise to anyone who has followed Deninzon’s career, which has included recording and performing with a variety of artists including Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow, Everclear, Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple, Smokey Robinson, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Matthis, Les Paul, Phoebe Snow and Jane Monheit.

As for his jazz-fusion background, the mind-opening genre is seemingly a gateway genre to prog rock. While he said the decision wasn’t calculated, Deninzon admits it naturally came out of melding influences.

Speaking of which, there’s a new influence that Deninzon is going to be exploring with Stratospheerius on its next project.

“In our set, we’re doing a lot of new music that hasn’t been released yet,” Deninzon said. “We just recorded four new songs. One of them is called ‘Guilty of Innocence,’ which was inspired by a stint I did in jury duty. I’m going for a retro, early ’80s new-wave style like a Joe Jackson, Police, Talking Heads kind of vibe, but still in the realm of prog.”

It’s pointed out to Deninzon that his exploration of musical soundscapes began with late ’60s jazz, jumped to ’70s prog rock and now appears to be ’80s new wave.

“I’m about 40 years behind, I guess, my time,” Deninzon said, laughing. “I’m slowly moving forward.”