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The Jazz Passengers

​The JAZZ PASSENGERS are a fantastical fusion of post-bop and musical comedy, once called a “perverse mainstream … hard-bop group as imagined by Frank Zappa.” (Bob Blumenthal, Boston Globe, 1989). Their name, a take-off on Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, reveals the musicians’ wild ride along the eccentric currents in modern American music. Saxophonist Roy Nathanson and trombonist Curtis Fowlkes, who found strong affinity in their Brooklyn roots while together in the band of the Big Apple Circus and John Lurie’s seminal band, The Lounge Lizards, founded the band in 1987. They first broke out on the New York City avant-garde scene centering around the Knitting Factory with a hybrid of Mingus-influenced dance rhythms and original tunes complete with lyrics and/or entertaining stories.

The Jazz Passengers have toured and continue to tour extensively since the 1990s, traversing the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia and having played at major festivals and in clubs and concerts across the globe. Looking ahead to 2014, the Jazz Passengers are planning another European tour. ​ Early Jazz Passengers sets and recordings involved complicated and soulful compositions mixed with original vocals and comedy pieces, as evidenced in their first five albums on small independent labels: “Broken Night/Red Light”, “Deranged and Decomposed”, “Live at the Knitting Factory”, “Plain Old Joe”, and “Implement Yourself”. The group’s trend towards vocal based composition reached a more sophisticated point with the release of the Hal Willner produced recording, and major- label debut, “Jazz Passengers In Love” in 1994. The recording featured singers from Mavis Staples and Jimmy Scott to Bob Dorough, but it was the performance of Blondie star Deborah Harry on the song “Dog In Sand” that stood out and led to a collaboration that is still very much alive. The band released two recordings, “Individually Twisted” and “Live in Spain” with Harry as lead vocalist, with extensive tours of performances with Harry.

​ In 2001, the band was commissioned to created an orchestration of their songbook with Deborah Harry “Imitation of a Kiss” (featuring the arranging and orchestration skills of Bill Ware) for performances with the Buffalo Philharmonic, the BBC Concert Orchestra and ten years later with the Northern Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra at the Gateshead International Jazz festival. Their exploration of genre crossing original for dramatic effect was also featured in their live performances of music to the 1954 classic cult horror film, “Creature From the Black Lagoon” in 2006.

​ In 2010 the Jazz Passengers released their most recent recording “Reunited”, featuring Elvis Costello and Deborah Harry. The record title and cover of Peaches and Herb’s disco hit was called “the musical equivalent of a Cubist painting, taking elements and rearranging them in unusual and sometimes grating juxtapositions.” (blogcritics.org) In 2011 and 2012 the Jazz Passengers successfully toured Europe with the Reunited music.

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103
Album Review

Jazz Passengers: Reunited

Read "Reunited" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Don't mistake the music made by The Jazz Passengers as merely camp or burlesque send-ups. Sure, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes dons the persona of the infamous “Peaches," from the duo Peaches and Herb, for the 1970's hit, “Reunited." The irony dissolves underneath Roy Nathanson and Fowlkes' spoken/sung duet with Sam Bardfeld's pizzicato violin and Marc Ribot's now-patented guitar effects Marc Ribot. As they have done since 1987, the band filters popular music through its own bohemian downtown filter.Reunited is ...

262
Album Review

The Jazz Passengers: Reunited

Read "Reunited" reviewed by Troy Collins


Reunions have become a requisite aspect of the music business, though the end results can vary in quality. Reunited, The Jazz Passengers first recording in twelve years, is a stellar example of this phenomenon. Picking up where they left off, this vivacious studio session juxtaposes mellifluous crooning, adventurous post-bop and stylistic eclecticism with irrepressible charm and sophisticated humor. Their all-inclusive embrace of multiple genres yields a hodgepodge of uncanny originals and surprising covers, executed with palpable enthusiasm.Featuring the ...

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118

Interview

UYS: The Jazz Passengers Interviews - "Reunited"

UYS: The Jazz Passengers Interviews - "Reunited"

Source: underyourskin


134

Recording

The Jazz Passengers - Reunited (Justin Time, 2010)

The Jazz Passengers - Reunited (Justin Time, 2010)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland

Originally formed as an offshoot of John Lurie's band The Lounge Lizards, The Jazz Passengers grew into a concern of their own in the 1990's by recording and touring widely. They have been less active lately, and this marks their first album in over ten years. The core group is made up of Marc Ribot on guitar, Sam Bardfeld on violin, Roy Nathanson on saxophone, Curtis Fowlkes on trombone, and E.J. Rodriguez on drums and percussion. Everyone takes a turn ...

289

Recording

Critically Acclaimed Band, The Jazz Passengers Set to Release "Reunited" on October 12

Critically Acclaimed Band, The Jazz Passengers Set to Release "Reunited" on October 12

Source: DL Media

Ensemble's First Release in Over a Decade Features Special Guests Elvis Costello, Debbie Harry, and Marc Ribot “The Jazz Passengers make jazz that's smart and witty and raucous. For all its unpredictable forms and modernist dissonances, the music comes across as boisterous fun. The Passengers' basic sound is that of a densely dissonant hard-bop band, updating Charles Mingus's Jazz Workshop groups, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and some of Bobby Hutcherson's and Eric Dolphy's 1960's Blue Note albums. Unlike their jazz ...

125

Performance / Tour

The Jazz Passengers "The Supremes Project" at Bricstudio

The Jazz Passengers "The Supremes Project" at Bricstudio

Source: All About Jazz

BRICstudio presents THE JAZZ PASSENGERS: The Supremes Project Thursday, March 15 & Saturday, March 17 at 8PM BRICstudio, an alternative space for new and emerging performance, kicks off its 2007 season with a new work by The Jazz Passengers, participants of BRIC/Brooklyn Information & Culture's new BRIClab artists' residency program. Commissioned by the Celebrate Brooklyn! Performing Arts Festival, The Supremes Project will be created and performed in development, with the creative advisement of Danny Kahn (Cross Road Management) ...

"If their goal is to make jazz music interesting and unpredictable, they’ve achieved it." - Jade Blackmore, BlogCritics

"It’s the musical equivalent of a Cubist painting, taking elements and rearranging them in unusual and sometimes grating juxtapositions." - Jade Blackmore, BlogCritics

"And therein lies the beauty of this band, where humor comingles with a serious love for the music." - Mike Shanley, JazzTimes

"In the 1990s, Blondie’s Debbie Harry performed and recorded as part of the giddily unclassifiable, quasi - vaudevillian Jazz Passengers." - nbcnewyork.com

"This magic can only exist when musicians enjoy a nearly indescribable intuition, coupled with the cohesiveness that comes with longevity. " - James McQuiston, NeuFutur.com

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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Reunited

Justin Time Records
2010

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Live In Spain

32 Records
1997

buy

Plain Old Joe

Knitting Factory Works
1993

buy

Jazz Passengers In...

Windham Hill/High Street Records
1993

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Live At The Knitting...

Knitting Factory Works
1991

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