This page is a self indulgent opportunity for me to let you know some lesser know things about the history of the songs we play and the artists that made these tunes. It’s also a place where you can find out more about some of the music we play by lesser known artists. Some of these were new to us not so long ago.
Warning I just looked this stuff up online for my own interest, it all sounds credible but it’s the internet and things are not always accurate.
Boz Scaggs
William Royce Scaggs (Boz Scaggs) is best known for his 1976 album, Silk Degrees but it was a long road to get there. He was born in June 8, 1944 (age 79) Canton, Ohio. So, what’s with the name Boz? A classmate wanted to give Scaggs a ‘weird’ nickname. This started out as Bosley, then Boswell and Bosworth. The name was later shortened to Boz. It was at that same school (St Marks) that he met Steve Miller (yep, of the Steve Miller Band), who
helped him to learn the guitar at age 12. Lowdown sold over a million copies in the US alone. When John Travolta was putting together the dance moves for Saturday Night Fever he used Lowdown but it wasn’t used in the movie because it was already used in another movie
TOTO
The members were session musicians that had played on albums for Steely Dan, Seals and Crofts, Sonny and Cher, but it was their session work on Boz Scaggs Silk Degrees Album that bought them together as a touring band
Simply Red
Mick Hucknall was in a punk group called The Frantic Elevators for 7 years. Seriously, what a travesty for a voice like that! Just listen to ‘Holding Back the Years’ from their 1st studio album and you’ll understand why. Hucknall and his manager Elliot Rashman assembled a band of local session musician and the rest is history. We play ‘Money’s Too Tight (to Mention)’ which is a cover of a soul song originally recorded by The Valentine Brothers on the Cool Funk album from 1982. Really worth checking this out, then have a listen to the live version by Simply Red and hear the evolution of that song!
Jeff Cascaro
Born 1968 in Bochum Germany. He is a German jazz and soul singer and trumpeter and lives in Berlin. We play quite a few of his songs and we named the band after one of them, so clearly we think his stuff is pretty good. Check out his Soul of a Singer album.
Average White Band (AWB)
Scottish funk and R&B band (that’s something you don’t hear often!) had several hits but their biggest was ‘Picking Up the Pieces’ which sold over 1 million copies. Lesser-known fact: James Brown’s backing band recorded ‘Pick Up the Pieces, One by One’ under the name AABB (Above Average Black Band). It was both a tribute to AWB’s knowledge of funk and a tongue-in-cheek play on the Scottish band’s name.
Andrea Balducci
It’s unlikely you’ve heard of this guy but he is a real talent in the classic swing tradition of
Micheal Bublé and Jamie Cullum. He hails from Italy. His album ‘Bloom’ (available on Spotify and Bandcamp) includes some great interpretations of classic swing tunes. We cover his arrangement of ‘Spooky’ which was originally recorded by Dusty Springfield. Balducci has used some of Italy’s best jazz musicians for these sessions. The horn arrangements on Balducci’s version are similar to the Springfield version but it is the trumpet solo by Jukka Eskola that is a stand out! Mike Golden, our lead tenor and horn arranger, has faithfully scored the horn arrangements for that solo. It’s a real treat and one to put on in the car on the way home after the gig.
Doug Parkinson
One of Australia’s greatest vocalists, a really distinctive voice. Have a listen to the cover version of The Beatles track ‘Dear Prudence’ by In Focus (May 1969).
Jon Cleary
Born in 1962 and grew up in Cranbrook, Kent, in the south-east of England. He was raised in a musical family. Cleary’s maternal grandparents performed in London in the 1940s, under the respective stage names Sweet Dolly Daydream and Frank Neville, The Little Fellow With The Educated Feet – she as a singer, and he as a crooner and tap dancer. In 1981 Cleary flew to New Orleans, and eventually got work playing piano, even though his
main instrument is guitar. Over the years he has worked in the bands of Taj Mahal, John Scofield, Dr. John, and Bonnie Raitt. His own band, the Absolute Monster Gentlemen has toured globally (Including Australia). A great place to start listening to Jon Cleary is his live version of ‘Help me Somebody’.