Photo from tubaskinny.com
Ever listen to heavy metal without the distortion on the guitars? No? Well, it’s an experience you will soon forget. How about ABBA for alto recorder to level-set your tastes? Maybe the Star Wars theme on bagpipes is more your style. Or, for you Queen fans, here’s a little Bohemian Rhapsody played on a harp.
Seriously, all that sort of thing is just goofing around with music and not even very well done (great playing, but misses the point). It takes a real master to transform a musical gag into true artistry.
What about claiming a somewhat marginalized genre as your own, mastering the instruments, living and loving the infectious spirit of a timeless sound, and playing it to enthusiastic audiences well into the twenty-first century? I don’t mean some museum piece that’s carted out and dusted off from time to time but something real, vital, personal, and a perfect remedy for techno-brain-dead lives delirious for content.
Tuba Skinny is the right music, the right instruments, and the right players. I fall in love with them over and over again. This is not genre music or an homage to a forgotten age but rather a fresh, new take on a very approachable, conversational form of music. There are no six minute long guitar solos. In fact, the clarinet and trumpet can get downright impatient if the trombone won’t lay out because they’ve got something to say. You don’t just feel good listening to this. You want to feel this good all the time.
Tuba Skinny is an ensemble of virtuosos. Everyone leads; everyone plays backup. Is there a leader? This ensemble follows every raised eyebrow, crooked ankle, and shrugged shoulder of trumpeter Shaye Cohn as she orchestrates on the fly. You’ll most likely hear Barnabus Jones on trombone, Todd Burdick on tuba, Craig Flory on clarinet, Max Bien-Kahn on resonator guitar and banjo, but the personnel can vary and most band members play multiple instruments.
Their sound is like chamber music without the stuffy chamber crowd, more suitable for an actual parlor, a band stand, or a street corner. This is not background music. It’s not brain twisting either, but it demands your attention. In fact, I find it much more fun to watch them than to just listen to them. Besides traditional jazz, their repertoire spans the blues, jug band, ragtime, and I don’t know what all. Need vocals? Erika Lewis is a knockout with her dry, detached singing, and sultry presence. This is virtuoso jazz singing without all the contemporary pop coloratura silliness.
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.
Nichols, Jessica (October 19, 2014). “Melbourne Festival Review: Tuba Skinny”. Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Retrieved May 13, 2015. Quoted in Wikipedia.
Is this old music? Sure. And it’s also newer than the newest thing. I will admit, it may be an acquired taste, but so is J.S. Bach, Thelonious Monk, and Kraftwerk. Not a shabby group of compatriots.
What Then? 