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Johnny Bones and the Palace of Jazz |
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Written by By Paul Raymore
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Tuesday, 05 August 2008 |
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 Johnny Bones and the Palace of Jazz will get the joint jumpin’ with an 8-piece orchestra that includes trumpets, clarinets, bass lines, and novelty drums and percussion during two free shows at Moody’s Bistro & Lounge on Friday, Aug. 8 and Saturday, Aug. 9.
Johnny Bones and the Palace of Jazz will deliver a show at Moody’s that feels like stepping back into the musical past while simultaneously listening to a band that is unmistakably part of jazz music’s future. The group’s sound is strongly influenced by the early, “hot” Jazz bands, such as Jelly Roll Morton and his Red Hot Peppers, Tiny Parham from Chicago, and Duke Ellington’s Cotton Club Orchestra from New York. Like many of these pre-big band ensembles, Johnny Bones and the Palace of Jazz enjoys the intimacy and personality of the “smaller” eight-piece orchestra. The instrumentation is powerful enough to really get the joint jumpin’, but small enough to leave room for the individuality of the players.
Although the band is influenced by everyone from early jazz musicians to Jimi Hendrix to Mozart, the group also takes pride in making sure that everything they perform is infused with a large dose of originality. Many of the most popular numbers are pieces written by Johnny Bones himself. Even when Johnny Bones and the Palace of Jazz play “the standards,” compositions by Cole Porter, Jelly Roll Morton, Jimmy Van Heusen and the like, they always make sure to write their own arrangements of the material.
Johnny Bones has cut his teeth on the Bay Area jazz scene since 1992. As a sideman he has played in both clubs and movies with Dizzy Gillespie, Percy Heath, Eddie Palmieri, and Nell Carter, among others. After studying on full scholarship at Berklee College in Boston, and completing a master’s degree in composition, he created Johnny Bones and the Palace of Jazz 6 years ago. The orchestra, which showcases a classy sound that is sweet but full of spice, held its debut performance at the prestigious Yoshi’s Nitespot at Jack London Square in Oakland.
Since this auspicious opening the band has entertained audiences up and down the west coast with its special blend of wah-wah trumpets, soaring clarinets, thumping bass lines, and novelty drums and percussion. For two years the group performed regularly at the Shattuck hotel in Berkeley, and have since enjoyed performances at Club Deluxe in San Francisco, the Brown Derby in Los Angeles, and many other venues.
Located inside the historic Truckee Hotel on Commercial Row, Moody's Bistro & Lounge is known for its locally sourced ingredients served in an informal atmosphere reminiscent of Tahoe in the 1920s. The restaurant serves a variety of Contemporary American specialties in a range of affordable price points, as well as a seasonal drink menu made with fresh herbs and fruit. The lounge also is home to live jazz shows by top U.S. and international acts. Moody's is located a few minutes from Interstate 80 at 10007 Bridge Street in Truckee (on the corner of Commercial Row). For reservations, call (530) 587-8688 or visit www.moodysbistro.com.
Q&A with Johnny Bones:
Tahoe World: In the press release they sent out about your show at Moody’s they call you a “smaller eight-piece orchestra,” but these days it seems like eight players is quite a lot (although not compared to the big bands of old). What motivated you to put together such a large-by-today’s-standards group?
Johnny Bones: That is an excellent question. I have always been a big fan of what a group of horn players can do together: melody sections in 3 part harmony, call & responses between the horns, riffs as backrounds while various individual horns take center stage as the lead soloist. The possiblities as far as texture and timbre in the music increases multifold when you have more than one horn. There is the classic interplay of early New Orleans music which generally featured the trumpet or cornet on a very direct and rhythmically punchy lead line, the trombone playing in a tailgate style that makes it’s role almost more like a rhythm section instrument, and the clarinet fluttering and flying around with a faster barrage of notes often in the upper register, a highly ornamented part like the soprano singer in an opera. I like to work with some of these New Orleans textures, as well as the more sectionalized styles associated with Duke Ellingtons Cotton Club Band and Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra.
Another reason for the size of the band is that I find it difficult to shrink the rhythm section. Losing the piano is losing the central voice of early jazz, at that time house parties started by hiring the pianist, and all the other musicians played around the central piano voice. That’s why you had pianists as the band leaders, Jelly Roll Morton, Count Basie, Tiny Parham and others. The guitar and bass keep the energy in a dance oriented tradition which is an aspect to early jazz music that I love. And live shows without the drums and percussion rarely get the house moving and electified.....so I need everyone in this big band!!
Tahoe World: Have you seen the Moody’s stage area? Any clue how you’re going to fit eight musicians in that space?
Johnny Bones: I am planning to try to fit a 6-piece group at Moody’s. I have adapted many of our orchestration to have two horns — myself on tenor saxophone and Tobias Barr my trumpeter-a 3 piece bass/guitar/drums rhythm section-and our young vocalist Kristen Gradwohl.
Tahoe World: How would you describe the sound of Johnny Bones and the Palace of Jazz?
Johnn Bones: This is a paragraph copied from my bio describing the band. Hopefully it gives enough of the flavor of what we are presenting? Let me know…
Johnny Bones and the Palace of Jazz is a vehicle for showcasing the multi-instrumental and compositional talents of Mr. Bones. The music experience is nostalgic and reminds audiences of the roots of jazz; Jelly Roll Morton, Bubber Miley, Tiny Parham, and Duke Ellington, to name a few. The band has entertained audiences around the country with a variety of growling trumpets, souring clarinets, gospel and spiritual vocal melodies and the distinctly New Aw-leans flavor.
Tahoe World: Do you find you still have room for improvisation during your live shows? Or do you stick pretty close to whatever arrangement you’ve got dialed in beforehand?
Johnny Bones: There is lots of room for improvisation in this music. In these arrangements there is more “through-composing” where spots for improvisation are mixed within an overall arrangement, so the piece is not necessarily led by the improvisation, but the improvisation plays a key role in both the structure, the spark of the performance, and the overall rendition presented night to night.
Tahoe World: What’s bringing you up to Truckee to play Moody’s?
Johnny Bones: The band is in the Tahoe area to provided entertainment for the 5 day Wooden Boat Show at the Tahoe Yacht Club. This years show boasts a 1920’s theme. Our trumpeter Tobias Barr spends his off weeks with his family at a house in Tahoe when he heard about the 1920’s theme he recommended our group to the directors of the event. They were impressed with the group and decided to bring us up here as the main entertainment for the event. We are very excited at our first opportunity to play in the area, and at the nature of the Yacht Club event and the excitement for the Moody’s concert.
When I was first performing in SF as a young saxophone player just out of Berkeley High and Berklee College of Music, a young club owner named JJ at the Up & Down Club in SF gave me my first regular gigs. I had heard through the grapevine that JJ had a club in Truckee, and knowing I would be in the area for the Yacht Club event, I contacted JJ about the possibility of playing at his newest venue. We had a couple of great talks over the phone and the club sounds great!!
Tahoe World: Anything else you’d like to add?
Johnny Bones: Nothing really jumps to mind at the moment. These were great questions. I have my cell phone on me all the time. If there is any follow up questions or details missing that need to be filled in, please don’t hesitate to call. I am flying to NY on Tuesday to play a show in Buffalo, so the phone may not work all day Tuesday, but pretty much any other day should be okay. Thank you very much, having a little PR on the show is muy appreciated, as I said above, we have not performed in the area before and would love to get people out to hear us.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 05 August 2008 )
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