Paul Cebar
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Paul Cebar is a bandleader from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who has a penchant for African, Latin American and Caribbean music. He has released four albums and an EP with his band, Paul Cebar & the Milwaukeeans, which have received airplay from triple-A stations across the US. He has also released one album with his current band Paul Cebar and Tomorrow Sound.
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[edit] Early performing
Cebar began performing in coffeehouses on the local folk scene in the mid-1970s. His repertoire consisted in large part of rhythm and blues and jump blues songs, played solo on his guitar. He attended New College in Sarasota, Florida. Afterwards, he played in New York while working with the R&B Cadets in Milwaukee.
[edit] The R&B Cadets
Throughout the early 1980s, Cebar was a member of a jazz and R&B combo, The R&B Cadets, along with Jon Sieger, Mike Sieger, Robyn Pluer, Bob Jennings, Juli Wood and Bob Schneider. The band played Sieger's compositions, along with obscure songs from the mid-century that Cebar had unearthed.
The R&B Cadets released an album entitled Top Happy, in 1986, and a 7-inch entitled Get a Move On in 1981. Song titles on the 7-inch are hook, line, and sinker, one is green, headin' for the poor house, and down by the river'.
During this period Paul and Claudia Schmidt released a 7-inch 45 The Outskirts Of You b/w Baby, It's Cold Outside.
[edit] Paul Cebar & The Milwaukeeans
Parallel to his work with the R&B Cadets, Cebar had his own group, Paul Cebar and the Milwaukeeans. The group played many jazz, R&B and bebop songs, by Louis Jordan, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and others. The members were Cebar (acoustic guitar and vocals), Robyn Pluer (vocals), Rip Tenor (sax), and Alan Anderson (bass). They were often joined by percussionist Guy Hoffman.
After the Cadets disbanded in 1986 Cebar reconstituted the group, which then was made up of Cebar (guitar, vocals), Pluer (vocals), Juli Wood (saxophone), Anderson (bass), Tenor (sax) and drummer Randy Baugher. The band explored African, Latin American and Caribbean sounds in a rhythm and blues context. All of the original members other than Cebar have moved on.
[edit] Paul Cebar & Tomorrow Sound
The current lineup includes former R&B Cadet Bob Jennings (sax, keyboards), Reggie Bordeaux (drums), Romero Beverly (percussion) and Patrick Patterson (bass). While earlier incarnations of the band were more pop-oriented, more recently the band is heavily into African, Latin, Caribbean, reggae, zydeco, R&B and soul styles.
The band continues to perform regularly, and tours the US.
[edit] Discography
- That Unhinged Thing - 1993
- Upstroke for the Downfolk - 1995
- I Can't Dance for You (EP) - 1996
- The Get Go - 1997
- Suchamuch - 2001 (live album)
- Tomorrow Sound Now for Yes Music People - 2007
[edit] Radio
Cebar began guesting on local musician Steve Cohen's show on WMSE radio in Milwaukee in the early 1980s. At the suggestion of another DJ there, he applied for, and received his own show, which he has hosted since 1985. The show runs Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. - noon. In the late 1980s, he also began hosting a show Sunday afternoons on WYMS in Milwaukee, which ran until the station changed its format in 2002.
