Come and see All the King’s Tubas perform tomorrow on the Springfield Symphony’s “Lunch on the Lawn” Series! It’s a FREE Concert from 11:30-1

Here’s a tuba-tastic review by Willie Clark of last night’s Po’Boys Brass Band Performance.

In the year 2045, when I somehow become Supreme General of Fantasy Land, my goal is to personally destroy every electric bass (maybe standing basses, too) and replace them with tubas.

Luckily for me, I don’t have to wait quite that long, as the tuba was in great form Saturday night at the Rochester International Jazz Festival. For the last day of this year’s fest I decided to go out with a bang: Rochester’s own Po Boys Brass Band. I can’t believe it has been almost three years since I stumbled upon this group, and I had yet to see them live. The band’s records are good, but let’s just say that the live show is a lot better.

The band is made up of educators, all of whom have some connection to the Eastman School of Music, which gives them the name recognition for both classical and jazz music. Eastman isn’t known for being a breeding ground for rock stars, but if there is one thing that the Po Boys did at the Jazz Street Stage it was exactly that: rock.

Mixing together funk, rock, metal, gospel, ska, reggae, and just about any other style you could think of, the Po Boys did it all with flash and flare. If I didn’t know any better I would have said the band was born and raised in New Orleans, not Rochester,

Because I love the instrument so much, I’m going to dedicate a whole paragraph to the tuba. TJ Ricer — now Dr. TJ Ricer to you — is one of those people that will help bring about the tuba-over-bass revolution. Hearing him play made me wonder why more jazz bands don’t ditch strings for brass and meddle with something really made of metal. It’s either the best compliment or the worst insult:� I would wager that if someone was listening to tonight’s concert with their eyes closed, they probably wouldn’t be able to notice that it was a tuba and not a bass playing. But I’m sure they could tell it was much more awesome than your average bass playing. Fwapping a string is one thing, but jumping up and down for an hour playing sousaphone is another. It was a shame to only see Ricer solo once, but I cannot imagine playing the bass parts he did for that long without my lips catching on fire and falling off.

As with Trombone Shorty Friday night, the Po Boys suffered from mild solo syndrome. As in, they just kept going and going. I would have rather seen one person on each song and more songs fit into the band’s set than a tour de music every time out. I’m not knocking anything about the solos themselves, because they were all great. There were just too many of them strung together. More like frosting, less like cake.

The most impressive part of the set was the band’s tribute to the world’s best trombone player, Jimi Hendrix. Using a trombone patched through a distortion pedal, the Po Boys were able to show that electrifying electric guitar solos just aren’t for guitars anymore.

The band also did a ripping version of “Carry On My Wayward Son,” and despite how many times I’ve heard that song thanks to Guitar Hero, it was still awesome. In proper New Orleans fashion, there are only a few words to describe the show: c’est si bon.
—Willie Clark, Rochester City Newspaper

Here is the opening to the recent New Horizons Big Band concert. We will be playing at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival on Wednesday, June 15th at 7:15 on the Jazz St Stage (Gibbs St).

I’ll also be playing on Saturday the 18th with the Po’Boys at 7:15 and 9:15. Here’s the line-up

I just wanted to share this great picture of the Nazareth College Brass Quintet:

We recently played at the Nazareth graduation ceremony.

John and I have already received some nice feedback on our Monday performances at Pal-Mac. One teacher simply said, “I LOVED TODAY’S ASSEMBLY!!!! t.j. & john, you rocked the house… how ’bout all the kids singing!?!?!!!!!”

The principal made a point of thanking us and stating that it was one of the best levels of interaction he has seen from visiting artists.

Another teacher sent us this note: “IT WAS AWESOME!!!!! At one point as the harmonies were sounding out of one instrument… I was glad that it wasn’t “fly season” ‘cause my jaw dropped and my mouth was just hanging open! Amazing stuff!”

One of the students told his teacher, “They must be the last two Beatles, ’cause I think the other two died.” (We used the Beatles’ “Come Together” and “In My Life” to talk about the parts of a song – bass line, melody, harmony, and countermelody)

I’ll put up some of the hand-drawn thank yous from the students soon