Like Pink Floyd, Stompy Jones is the band name, not a person in the band. It's also the name of a 1934 Duke Ellington tune. But if Stompy Jones were a person, he'd be impeccably dressed, smooth as silk with the ladies, and one hell of a dancer.
Stompy Jones (the San Francisco-based jumping rhythm & blues sextet) performed at the David Patrone $10,000 Swing Dance Spectacular in the Dreamcatcher Showroom at Viejas Casino on Sunday night, and they had the dance floor jam-packed for every single song. And with good reason. No other band in the world has such an innate understanding of the sound, rhythm and presentation of 1940's small band rhythm and blues, the music that bridged the gap between big band swing and rock and roll. This is almost entirely due to the voracious, almost obsessive attention to detail paid by Stompy Jones founder and bassist “Little” David Rose.
“I went out and bought all the $1 records I could find,” Rose said, “that's how I learned about good music.” Stompy Jones is unique among modern bands playing the early rhythm and blues of Louis Jordan, Roy Milton, Wynonie Harris and Earl Bostic (and heaven knows there are plenty of them), in that they play the music as authentically as possible, avoiding modernizing it, rearranging it, or messing with the tempos. “We don't do this for ourselves,” singer Chris Binnings said,“we exist, we play this music, just for the dancers.” Rose's originals, sprinkled throughout the band's CDs and their live performances, are creative and tasty, yet stylistically indistinguishable from the carefully selected covers. “The beauty of this music is in the details,” Rose enthused.
Binnings' wonderfully unique vocals are the only element that gives Stompy Jones away as a band of the current day, and not 1947. Were the group around in the 40's, Binnings would be a household name. The handsome furniture-store-employee-slash-occasional-piano-bar-singer was scooped up, virtually unheard, to front Stompy Jones when their much-loved singer, Peter “Pops” Walsh, had to leave the band due to health problems. Binnings' sweet rasp and gentle phrasing, learned from years listening to Sam Cooke and time under Little David's mentoring, flirts with full-on blues-shouting before returning to an intriguingly romantic, lightly gravelly crooning.
Stompy Jones will play two southern California dates in February: Memories in Whittier, CA on the 12th and Carnation Plaza at Disneyland on the 13th. Check http://www.stompyjones.com for more information.
The next event in the David Patrone $10,000 Swing Dance Spectacular will be on Valentine's Day, February 14, with San Diego band The Fremonts. Check http://www.swingspectacular.com for details.
Comments
Andi,
Thanks for the article - these guys are great! You must have been going crazy!
Andi- I'm glad that you got to experience Stompy Jones in person. Watching and hearing a set is worth a 1000 words for sure...it is retro, cool and it gets you into a "mood" that evokes a time gone by. It pays homage to the seminal music that spawned what we heard in the '50's, kind of the "missing link". It is sensual, palpable and fun, you just can't stand still for long. Chris Binnings' style and music sense comes from New Orleans and South Louisiana as a birthright much like Harry Connick, Jr. Club music is the core of the culture there, it is the crux of the fun times we all grew up in as locals. The Band is tight, all on the same page...they ebb and flow, trade-off licks, meld harmonies, creating sounds and feelings seamlessly, effortlessly. They "own" this genre and are its totally competent ambassadors. Catch any of their shows, you will be a fan instantly. Good luck guys, keep it coming!
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