Jefferson St. Parade Band Brings Bombastic Beats and Brass to the People on New Album
Weaving together many international influences, Jefferson St. Parade Band brings bombastic beats & brass to the people. A fully mobile party band, JSPB features an innovative drum line and a rich horn section. And their guitarist and bassist play through custom made Ghostbusters-style portable backpack amps.
JSPB walks a rare line: This brass band is at home playing jazz, world, and jam band festivals, tailgates, punk shows, schools, microbreweries, weddings, funerals, art museums, flea markets, groceries, and convention centers… Their unique combination of virtuosic horn solos, polyrhythm, and face-melting bass and guitar work has the ability to get rockers, toddlers, and seniors up and dancing.
Fall, 2016 finds JSPB putting the final touches on their third independent album: Viral is set for local release in Fountain Square, Indianapolis on Friday November 4th, with a national release on November 18th. They’re sharing the bill with Indianapolis’ Highlife heroes Sweet Poison Victim. Doors at 7, music at 8, all ages.
The new album is co-produced by JSPB’s director Ben Fowler, and Blockhouse media wizard Andrew Beargie. Says Beargie, “Viral is one of the most natural and vibrant recording projects I’ve worked on to date.” JSPB’s previous album feature covers of Guinean heavyweight Famoudou Konaté’s Kadan and Konkoba II, and Brazilian composer Baden Powell’s Canto De Xangô.
Their new disc focuses on originals by several composers within the band, along with a standout covers of Mexican traditional El Cascabel, and Easy Dub, by Jamaican electronics/sound pioneer King Tubby.
“A kinetic explosion of intoxicating global beats and brass. The Jefferson St. Parade Band is a riotously fun experience.”
-DJ Kyle Long/NUVO
“[JSPB’s second album] Consultation with Tubby showcases the talent of the Jefferson St. Parade Band, merging many genres together while creating a unique and cohesive sound that is undeniably their own.”
-Anna Polovick/Black Grooves
1. Austin City Unlimited
2. Most Annoying Song Ever, Gone Viral
3. Easy Dub
4. Jazz Bastard
5. Gas $$
6. El Cascabel
7. Swamp
About
Ben Fowler/Drums, Alto Sax, Director Fowler’s drumming inspirations are Elvin Jones (with John Coltrane), Mitch Mitchell (With Jimi Hendrix), and Famoudou Konate (Djembe master from Guinea, West Africa). His first love was the drum set; he traded it for the marching snare in an effort to take his music out of the stale bar scene and into the streets. He lights up the snare. As a songwriter/saxophonist he veers toward angular, unusual harmonies and arrangements (see Fowler Kilter, Swamp, Gas $$).
Fowler graduated from the IU Jacobs' School of Music in 2008, with a bachelors' in Jazz Studies/Percussion. At IU he studied with LA studio stalwart Steve Houghton. He has had lessons with New Orleans veteran drummer John Vidacovich, and studied regularly with Indianapolis jazz/gospel great Charleston ‘Deno’ Sanders. In years past, he toured Europe with DM Stith (Asthmatic Kitty), and toured the eastern and southern USA with The Delicious (Joyful Noise) and Kentucky Nightmare (Standard Recordings). Now he focuses the bulk of his musical energy on Jefferson St. Parade Band.
Aaron Comforty/TPT and composer. Aaron is an excellent multi-instrumentalist (Trumpet, pennywhistle, banjo, guitar, keys, drums, vocals). His wily compositions are a breath of fresh air in the JSPB repertoire (see Chalk, Most Annoying Song Ever Gone Viral). Aaron recently received a Bachelor’s from IU in Ethnomusicology with a focus in Music Education. Comforty has the surprising ability, simply through melodic ornamentation, to bring his listeners back to turn-of-the-20th-Century Bulgaria.
Alex Arnold/TPT and composer. Alex earned his BA in Music Composition at Earlham College. Alex is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and active member in multiple other projects (!mindparade, Ladycop, Black Acid Arkestra). His trumpet playing is fiery and his solos are unpredictable. His love of Roma/Balkan music informs his compositions within the band (Koze Glavata, from JSPB's first album, Juntos).
Alex Akers/TPT. Akers brings crisp tone and clarity on the trumpet. A Graduate of Indiana State University in music education, he is an active performer, composer, band director, guitar instructor, producer, and clinician. His versatile musicianship has led him to tour nationally and internationally. Some past performances include iCandy Rock n’ Roll at Indiana Live Casino, Rhapsody in Swing (China tour), and several US tours with JSPB. Akers produces for the innovative hip-hop label TeamGreenWhatUp, and plays in Chicago based groups The Rave, and Caught on Cline.
Evan King/TPT. Evan was the principal of the Denver Philharmonic for their first international tour (China, summer 2016) and was the former principal of the columbus, Indiana philharmonic. King received his undergrad from IU in Trumpet Performance. He brings his precision and brilliant sound to JSPB any time that he can get away from graduate school and gigging in Denver, CO.
Peter Hanson/Alto Sax. Peter, aka Daddy, grew up in Bloomington, and has spent much of the last 13 years in and around NYC. He received a jazz degree from SUNY Purchase College, and has since taught and gigged in and around Brooklyn. His tastes center on improvised, genre-defying music. He has toured with JSPB, and Jason Ajemian and The High Life (and with their new incarnation, Folklords). Folklords will be appearing in Continental Europe for several dates this fall.
Dylan Maloney/Tenor Sax. Dylan has traveled extensively in Latin America. He has paid several visits to Xalapa, the capitol city of Veracruz. There he focuses on learning a south-western Mexican folk music called Son Jarocho. This past year he arranged one of their classics, El Cascabel, for the Jefferson St. Parade Band. Dylan also studies luthiery in Xalapa. In recent years he has made several regional stringed instruments (the Leona and the Jarana), and two guitars. In the fashion of his teacher there, he builds stringed instruments almost entirely by hand!
Eric Arnold/Tenor Sax. Eric’s solos have a playfulness and a rhythmic edge that competes with the band’s finest drummers. Eric spends his time away from JSPB rebuilding an old Airstream trailer, writing code for apps, and producing trill beats.
Durand Jones/ Bari Sax. Through the bari sax, Durand can sing and cry, shout and scream. His years of classical training (Southeastern Louisiana University Bachelor’s, and an IU Jacobs Masters’ in Music Performance/Saxophone) have given him an effortlessness on his instrument (hear his solo on Gas $$). But his voice is uniquely powerful as a sax player and as a singer. His singing can be heard on his self titled 2016 release, Durand Jones & the Indications.
Zach Frasier/Guitar. Zach comes from a jam band background (nearly a decade with Elephant Quiz). He lights up the electric guitar like no other (Hear his solo on Party time excellent, and Most Annoying Song Ever Gone Viral). Zach is still scheming about mounting a pedal board to his belt.
Matt Romy/Bassist, composer, arranger. Romy studied Jazz Piano at IU Jacobs School of Music. He is JSPB’s Mingus, an excellent bassist with a hand in the overall harmonic landscape of the band. Romy's compositions lean toward driving funk (Austin City Unlimited, B.F.'s BFFs), with a harmonic depth that rewards continued listening. Romy is right at home playing punk/rock guitar (Community Currency), jazz piano, and heavy metal drumset (Marine Corpse).
Ben Handel/Snare, Toms. Handel is a tireless drumline and drumset player. He has toured extensively with Blast!, throughout Japan and South Korea (Blast! is the 2001 winner of the Tony Award for "Best Special Theatrical Event," and the 2001 Emmy Award for "Best Choreography”). This summer he was involved in the arranging, rehearsing, and Japanese debut of the Blast! Disney Show. Locally, he works with IU's Marching Hundred, Bloomington North's Drumline, and the Owen Valley Drumline. Handel recorded and mixed JSPB’s second album, Consultation w/Tubby.
Josh Olivo/Snare. Josh keeps things light and tight on his snare/tambourine rig. A consummate musician with two decades of drumming under his belt, he has an instinct for the phrase and an ear to the big picture. When he solos, Olivo prefers to explore the microscopic, expertly subdividing the flow of time. Goodhands Team is the outlet for his electronic work. Josh is a practitioner of Tibetan meditation, and slays on the basketball court.
Chuck Roldan/Toms, Bass Drum. Chuck is perhaps the most expressive drummer in the band. He can whisper on his bass drum/tom rig, moments before sending it to the repair shop! He brings together precision and raw energy like no one else. By day he works as a mild mannered math tutor.
Jack Stewart/Bass Drum. With a strong grasp of jazz, rock and funk, Jack has long been the foundational pulse of the band. He played jazz in school in Ithaca, NY, and has nearly completed a Masters in Information Science at IU. Jack wiles away his days inputting data into complex computer systems, waiting for the next chance to get.
Kevin Weinberg/Bass Drum. Kevin gets inside the unusual beats of JSPB, and always finds a way to give them his own twist. He works around town as a sound man, and an audio and video engineer. He studied jazz drumming, and received his bachelor’s degree at IU in the Recording Arts.
Matt Andert/Bass Drum and Engineer. ‘Dirty’ sawed his marching bass drum in half, and filled the open half with a cowbell and snare drum he made out of a cooking pot. He built an amplifier into the body of a busted acoustic guitar, gave it backpack straps, and played a keyboard through it. he built a PA system onto an adult tricycle and entered the Bloomington 4th of July Parade with a pickup band playing the Star Wars Imperial March.
