Jump, Little Children

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump, Little Children (JLC or Jump), is a band formed in 1991 in the city of Charleston, South Carolina. They played their first show in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, but it was not until 1994 that the line-up of musicians in the band was stabilized. The members of the band are:

Jay Clifford: vocals and rhythm guitar
Matthew Bivins: tin whistle, harmonica, accordion, melodica, and electric and acoustic mandolin
Ward Williams: cello and guitar
Jonathan Gray: double bass
Evan Bivins: drums

Michael Bellar and Amanda Kapasouz, the affectionately named sixth and seventh members of the band, are frequent collaborators. The name of the band comes from the title of a song by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee which the band played in its early years.

On June 16, 2005 the band announced that after the end of the year they do not plan on touring any more, but have not completely ruled out the possibility of recording more material or continuing their traditional Dock Street Theatre shows. By the end of 2005 drummer Evan Bivins was quoted saying "This is pretty much it. We've been saying 'never say never,' but for all intents and purposes, these are the last shows. We've been planning this since the end of last year."

[edit] History

All the members of the band with the exception of Gray attended the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, along with former member Chris Pollen. They began playing Celtic music in college and soon Clifford, Pollen, and the Bivins brothers went to Dublin and then Boston to hone their craft. When Pollen left the band to join a religious cult, recent graduate Williams rejoined the band in Charleston, along with Gray.

The band started busking on the corner of Church and Market Streets in Charleston and continued on to larger shows, developing a growing following in the Southeast, and soon signed with Breaking Records, a subsidiary of Atlantic owned by Hootie and the Blowfish, in 1998.

The band released their first studio album, Magazine, under Breaking Records. The single, "Cathedrals," achieved radio play nationwide, and was featured prominently in the soundtrack during a dramatic scene in the television drama Everwood in 2003, but the label was dropped by Atlantic a few weeks before the scheduled release of the band's sophomore album, Vertigo. The band eventually won the rights to Vertigo and released it under the independent label E-Z Chief Records in September 2001. After pursuing a number of side projects (including Clifford's jazz band, Rosebud and Evan's rock band, biv), JLC released its third album, Between the Dim and the Dark, in April 2004 which coincided with a largely unsuccessful attempt to officially shorten the band's name to 'Jump'.

Their final show was a black tie affair at the Dock Street Theatre in Charleston on December 30, 2005, the last of a set of four shows beginning two days prior and featured material from each members' other projects. The show ended by the band and the 500+ member audience walking from the Dock Street Theatre to Market Street to re-enact a busking session typical of the band's early years. The show also announced the formation of a scholarship fund at the College of Charleston in honor of the band.

Other achievements include the creation of a website on which fans can order CDs with songs of their choice from various independent bands, and the release of a concert DVD featuring skits by each of the band members.

[edit] Discography

The Licorice Tea Demos (independent release)
Buzz (independent release 6 song LP)
Magazine (with Breaking Records, a division of Atlantic Records, recently released under Brash Records)
Vertigo September 2001
Between the Dim and the Dark April 2004
Between the Glow and the Light April 2005
Jump at the Dock Street Theatre (2-CD set) May 2006