To get you to the Music you want to hear, we wrote a brief description of every album.
We aren’t locked into a recording contract, and we have no obligation to produce one type of music over another. Not all albums are the same. In fact, we find we reinvent ourselves and our sound pretty often. Because of that, it’s almost guaranteed you’ll find something on this page that makes you happy.
It also means that if you want to hear more of a particular kind of thing, all you really have to do is ask. I make no guarantees, but stranger things have surely happened.
This release hasn’t been released yet. I guess that makes it an unrelease.
This unrelease will be a collection of country and western inspired big band tunes. Most or all of them will have lyrics, words, and some kind of singing. Because that’s what you asked for more of. Careful what you wish for.
“Mashed Up” is named such because of its fun, instrumental style.
We titled this release Mashed Up because we decided to throw away certain boundaries and incorporate different types of music that aren’t usually played together.
What would we call this style? Uh… Big Band is already Latin, so there is no reason to fly that flag. So Big Band. Add Country. Add Rock. Big Rockabilly Band? Add Blues. Add Jazz. Big Rockabilly Juezz Band? Sounds racist. Big Rockabilly Blazz Band? Fuse all that into a big mess and you’ve got this album.
Click on the album cover on the left to try it out on Youtube.
Killing Me Softly
“Killing Me Softly with His Song” is a song composed by Charles Fox with lyrics by Norman Gimbel. The lyrics were written in collaboration with Lori Lieberman after she was inspired by a Don McLean performance of “Empty Chairs” in late 1971. Whew, huh?
Anyway, this album, and its Chicago-jazz style of music were inspired by that song. Just look how inspired everybody is!!
Click on the album cover on the left to try it out on Youtube.
Sabreina ~~ Impertinente en deux langues
Pas instrumental !
Sabreina maîtrise aussi bien le français que l’anglais, et ses deux langues sont tout à fait justes. Elle parle d’une voix douce, posée et précise, avec une tonalité très légère. C’est pour ça que, quand on l’entend chanter, on en reste invariablement bouche bée.
Ces deux albums ont été inspirés par le cabaret français et la chanson réaliste moderne, en particulier celle d’Édith Piaf et de Charles Aznavour. Ils sont dédiés à Roswitha Dorothea Shapland, qui les a trouvés « sacrément bons ».
Sabreina ~~ Sassy in Two Languages
Not Instrumental.
Sabreina’s French and English are both very much on point. She speaks in a quiet, clipped, and precise manner with a very mild voice. That’s why, when you hear her sing, you invariably just stand there with your mouth hanging open.
These twin albums were inspired by French cabaret and modern chanson realiste music, particularly that of Edith Piaf and Charles Aznavour. They are dedicated to Roswitha Dorothea Shapland, who thought they were “pretty damn good.”
The Fat Gunslinger is an all-original, all instrumental country and western inspired big band album. It was a LOT of fun to make.
The title is a tongue in cheek nod to a certain ex police officer who gained 100 to 130 pounds in his first year as a civilian.
Click on the album cover on the left to try it out on Youtube.
This album, “What Baby Really Needs,” is a collection of Mississippi Blues inspired Big Band songs whose titles were rather naughty when all piled together and taken out of context, or rather placed into a purely sexual context, as they originally were in the vast folder full of hundreds of songs we were organizing at that time. We saw an opportunity to cut a large chunk of themed songs from the herd and set them free.
The title, “What Baby Really Needs,” came from a conversation that took place after all the songs were compiled. We named it this way because it gave a certain young lady a tremendous amount of embarrassment whenever the story was repeated.
Click on the album cover on the left to try it out on Youtube.
Stompin’ and Blowin’ is a collection of Blues inspired Big Band songs.
One of the band members, a gentleman named Etienne, plays any and all wind instruments. He is extremely talented when he plays any instrument, but when he plays a harmonica, or blues harp, he is more free to move around.
His stomping and dancing antics while blowing the blues harp are a delight to watch.
Click on the album cover on the left to try it out on Youtube.
Drifting Into Black is an instrumental album of blues and southern rock inspired big band music.
Drifting into Black was named, much as “What Baby Really Needs,” because we saw a prevalent theme among the titles of the hundreds of songs that we were collating. I guess none of us ever recognized how many space themed titles we gave songs. We had to group them, and here they are.
Click on the album cover on the left to try it out on Youtube.
Entitled “Everything Changes, When You’re The One With The Gun,” this album is heavily blues inspired Big Band Music. We also experimented with several different types of keyboards during its creation, particularly the Minimoog.
The title of the album is a recognition of how quickly attitudes and fortunes can shift, when power changes hands. In this case, a young woman was walking from a gas station out to her car when a few thugs decided to give her a hard time. In addition to carrying a legal concealed weapon, she also had about a dozen friends inside the gas station. What started out as a fun night for a few bad guys ended in their tears. C’est la vie n’est pas?
Click on the album cover on the left to try it out on Youtube.
Big Band: The Next Generation. Before we jammed one night, we all listened to couple of old vinyls of some very old jazz and big band music. And while we were and are proud to carry the torch forward, we did decide that modern big band is a whole lot better than it was in the old days, with notable exceptions. Of course, unlike ourselves, they weren’t standing on the shoulders of giants.
Click on the album cover on the left to try it out on Youtube.
Some very Latin-y big band instrumental music. Flamenco, Tango, Cha cha cha, Resquedo, and Mariachi all show their heads at some point. There were too many of these songs for just one album.
Click on the album cover on the left to try it out on Youtube.
Some very Latin-y big band instrumental music. Flamenco, Tango, Cha cha cha, Resquedo, and Mariachi all show their heads at some point. There were too many of these songs for just one album.
Click on the album cover on the left to try it out on Youtube.
Before we jammed one night, we all listened to couple of old vinyls of some very old jazz and big band music. And while we were and are proud to carry the torch forward, we did decide that modern big band is a whole lot better than it was in the old days, with notable exceptions. Of course, unlike ourselves, they weren’t standing on the shoulders of giants.
Funny story, too. Ironically, just a few days before this album released, a really great Youtuber left a comment about how much his Daddy would have liked the big band music we play. I still pray, every time that I think of him, that he doesn’t think we named this album as a slight to his late father.
Click on the album cover on the left to try it out on Youtube.
Tropical Paradise is the product of a few weeks last summer, when most of us realized we would not be going on vacation, much less to anyplace cool like Cabo. So for several sessions we fooled around with islandy and beachy style music. And even though we all had a good time, I sincerely hope everyone has a better summer this year.
Click on the album cover on the left to try it out on Youtube.
North Georgia is a beautiful place. This stream is less than 1/4 mile from the parking lot of the old church where we play (we call it the Citadel, but you don’t have to). I took this picture myself and canceled the photo shoot we had with a professional photographer later that week.
Anyway, when I got back to the church and was showing the photo around, one of the guitarists, a truly lovely fellow named Miguel breathed “Aqua Linda” and crossed himself. I thought that was one of the most beautifuyl things I’d ever heard, so it became the name of our very first release.
Click on the album cover on the left to try it out on Youtube.