Tuba Skinny

Tuba Skinny

In performance in New Orleans, 2009
Background information
Origin New Orleans, United States
Genres Swing, blues, ragtime, jazz
Years active 2009 (2009) – present
Website www.tubaskinny.com
Members Erika Lewis
Todd Burdick
Jason Lawrence
Gregory Sherman
Shaye Cohn
Barnabus Jones
Robin Rapuzzi
Craig Flory

Tuba Skinny is a New Orleans traditional jazz band which formed in 2009. Their home is New Orleans, Louisiana. Tuba Skinny's ensemble includes tuba, trombone, cornet, tenor banjo, guitar, vocals, washboard, and clarinet, and is inspired by the early jazz and blues music of the 1920s and 1930s. The band has performed on streets and stages around the world, including music festivals in Mexico, Sweden, Australia, Italy, France, Switzerland and Spain.[1]

Offbeat Magazine awarded their album Owl Call Blues recognition as the best traditional jazz album of the year in 2014.[2] This award is given only to Louisiana musicians, and was first established in 1994.[3]

The band's name is a tribute to the tuba player Anthony Lacen who was better known as Tuba Fats. He was a founding member of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, one of New Orleans' most prominent brass rhythm bands. He died in 2004.[4]

Discography

Tuba Skinny also appears on:

Membership

Although the band's members have changed slightly from their début in 2009, their ensemble in 2015 included the following musicians.

Repertoire

Their material, while it includes some original material they have composed, is drawn from the lesser known compositions of the early jazz era. Their repertoire has been documented by their honorary archivist to include over 300 songs.[5] He has praised their selection of deserving tunes, and selected the following as being especially noteworthy: New Orleans Bump, You Can Have My Husband, Jackson Stomp, Deep Henderson, Banjoreno, Treasures Untold, Russian Rag, Oriental Strut, Minor Drag, Michigander Blues, In Harlem's Araby, Me and My Chauffeur, A Jazz Battle, Droppin' Shucks, Fourth Street Mess Around, and Carpet Alley Breakdown.[6]

The singers and composers whose material they favor include Jelly Roll Morton, Lucille Bogan, Victoria Spivey, Memphis Minnie, Jabbo Smith, Georgia White, Skip James, Merline Johnson, Ma Rainey, Hattie Hart, Blind Blake and Clara Smith. The bands whose material Tuba Skinny has interpreted in their own manner are The Memphis Jug Band, The Dixieland Jug Blowers and The Mississippi Mud Steppers.[5]

Musical Style

Their music has been praised by music critics for its originality and technical competence. One review of their 2014 performance at the Melbourne Music Festival captured the quality of their music well.

Musically, Tuba Skinny mines a rich seam of traditional jazz and blues from the '20s and '30s. And, while it's evident the band treasures the sense of history evoked by these vintage tunes, the players' natural exuberance makes the music feel irresistibly alive. Erika Lewis' vocals have a wonderfully earthy quality, her phrases often pulling behind the beat with a languid, world-weary drawl. On the instrumental numbers, Cohn's cornet outlined the melody and also engaged in spirited three-way conversations with Barnabus Jones' trombone and Jon Doyle's agile clarinet. Washboard player Robin Rapuzzi frolicked on the sidelines, his rhythmic explorations as captivating to watch as they were to listen to – even when the band was temporarily upstaged by a troupe of swing dancers, who launched into an athletic routine peppered with break-out solos and acrobatic air steps, offering a physical manifestation of the joy Tuba Skinny seem to bring with them wherever they go.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Trad, Ivan. "Tuba Skinny, the World's Best Traditional Jazz Band". Playing Traditional Jazz. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  2. ↑ "2014 Best of the Beat Award Winners" (1/28/2015). Offbeat Magazine. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  3. ↑ "Offbeat Magazine's Best of the Beat Awards". Offbeat Magazine. 29 December 2014. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  4. ↑ "Anthony Lacen, 53; 'Tuba Fats' Was A New Orleans Fixture". Los Angeles Times. 17 January 2004. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  5. 1 2 Trad, Ivan. "Repertoire of Tuba Skinny". Playing Traditional Jazz. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  6. ↑ Trad, Ivan. "What's the Secret of Today's Greatest Traditional Jazz Band?". Playing Traditional Jazz. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  7. ↑ Nichols, Jessica (19 October 2014). "Melbourne Festival Review: Tuba Skinny". Sidney Morning Herald. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
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