Johnny E

Yes yes, I know. i was just trying to make a funny.

By B# don't you really mean C?

Hey there, My group Reptet is looking at playing in San Diego in the Spring and I've gotten the name of a few cafes and such that have jazz. Can anyone tell me which of these places (if any) would be a worthwhile venue for a touring emerging artist like ourselves? claire de lune twiggs lestat's Thanks in advance -john

Friday, November 24, 2006 The Reptet - Do This (Monktail Records, 2006) It's appropriate that the Seattle jazz outfit The Reptet would dedicate four of their compositions on this album to The Marx Brothers, because they add a good dose of madcap fun and humor to their music. This doesn't mean that they do not take their music seriously, quite the contrary, this band made up of Tobi Stone and Izaak Millson on reeds, Ben O'Shea on trombone, Samantha Boshnack on trumpet and flugelhorn, Ben Verdier on bass, John Ewing on drums was formed for the express purpose of performing original improvisational compositions in an increasingly homogenized jazz world. The bands music is bold and exuberant, exploring some of the freer and avant-garde realms but without the honk 'n' squeal that could scare some of the more timid jazz listeners away. "Bad Reed Blues" and the live "Ro" show the band at their feverish peak with good soloing, and on the slower, more introspective songs like "Mumia's Lament" and "Groucho" the band's ensemble playing creates tone colors worthy of a big band. This is an interesting band that deserves attention beyond the fertile Seattle scene. They remind me a bit of another regional favorite, the Boston based ensemble Dead Cat Bounce, another collective that encourages original composition and exploratory improvisation. It's good to see outfits like this evolve independently from the hothouse scene of New York and hopefully they will continue to produce interesting original music.

Reptet Do This! (Monktail) OutThere Monthly This is the latest offering by the Seattle jazz sextet Reptet. You need to buy this cd for one of three reasons. A: You enjoy music that embodies the creativity of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and swings like a classic Charles Mingus session. B: You say you like jazz but are afraid of anything that might step out of the mainstream, well Reptet can introduce you to some of creative sounds you have been missing while keeping one foot well within "the tradition". C: It has a decidedly hip Jim Flora cover. Whatever the reason, just Get It!, you won't be sorry.

Do This! Reptet | Monktail Records (2006) By Dan McClenaghan I looked up “reptet” in the dictionary. It's not there. The words skip from “reprove” to ”reptile”... no “reptet” listed. Maybe I don't have a big enough dictionary, or maybe the Seattle-based sextet made it up. And why not? The music on the group's second CD is all about spontaneity and improvisation, unfettered, exuberant energy and rubbery, loose-limbed grooves—on the one hand they don't sound like they're taking it all too seriously, while on the other, they make some very fine modern-sounding music. Various group members wrote the all-original compositions, and the influences have a broad base. “Zeppo,” the opener (penned by trumpeter Samantha Boshnack), has a nicely cluttered Charles Mingus feel. “Bad Reed Blues” (by multi-reedist Tobi Stone) is a whimsical weave of reed (bass clarinet) and brass in a sort of New Orleans/Allen Toussaint horn arrangement—after, maybe, the great arranger has had a glass of wine or two—with brass and reeds swirling in and out of the mix without fighting each other, each finding their own space. Everybody's assertive, but in a cooperative way, like a careening musical Roller Derby team. “Harpo”—there's a Marx Brothers theme going on here—includes special guest Bron Journey on harp. The delicate, classical-sounding beginning evolves into a hard-trudging, bass/drum-heavy forward momentum behind obstreperous horn solos. You'll hear a bunch of different small percussion instruments shaking and rattling in and out of the mix throughout the disc, suggesting a Art Ensemble of Chicago influence—with a strong sense of fun. With Do This the Seattle-based Reptet has crafted a fresh, engaging and innovative sound. Visit Reptet on the web. Reptet at All About Jazz. Track listing: Zeppa; Bad Reed Blues; Ro; Harpo; Chico; Groucho; Munia's Lament; Little Caesar; H.R.; Do This! Personnel: Samantha Boshnack: trumpet, slide trumpet, flugelhorn; Ben O'Shea: trombone, juju seed rattle; Tobi Stone: baritone, alto and tenor saxophone, clarinet; Izaak Mills: alto and tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, flute bull moose call, frog, maraca, mini bell, tamborine, train whistle, wooden ratchet; Ben Verdier: bass; John Ewing: drums and percussion. Special Guests: Lalo Bello: congas, bongos, mini maracas, shekere; Bron Journey: harp

Just received Reptet and Do this ! CDs, very nice stuff indeed, needs proper attention but first spin , very impressive Wonderful! My goal is to get Reptet out to Europe next year...Fall maybe. Hopefully I can make a connection with someone on the other side of the pond that might be able to help facilitate. If you know anyone like this please let me know.

No, because your chew chew Chewy, Aric evil twin.

Can't. No babysitter. Have you thought of hiring Aric as your babysitter?

Can't. No babysitter.

Aric Effron was at my show on Saturday night! Oh yeah, so was Bill Frisell.

Oh, and if anyone else has tried to send me emails and I did not respond, please except my apologies and follow the instructions to Allen above.

Allen, I never recieved that email. I don't know what happened, but I checked (and double checked) my inbox and trash (in case it got dumped in there thinking it was spam) an nothing from you is there. Please PM or send the email again, this time directly to reptet@hotmail.com. Sorry man, -john

Ah, man. I thought that John Hollenbeck was cool. Some of that stuff they were doing is very difficult to execute. Not neccesarily my cup of tea per se, but they we damn good.

Yes, I played mainly kit (I was in command of the only bass drum after all) and Mark Ostrowski played auxillary percussion (i.e. bells, whistles, woodblocks, cowbells, wooden cracker and rachet, sleigh bells, etc.) Thanks man, you were not the only one who liked it. The entire crowd seemed to really dig it. How many would you say were ther, 200, 250? We sold every Monktail disc we brought that night. I only brought 10 Reptet discs and they were all gone before the Claudia Quintet started...shoulda brought more.

Yes. There will be a pro video team recording it as well.

More venue names please. There's gotta be hundreds of places that have jazz muci on the west coast, no? I'd be so grateful.

We had our final rehearsal today. Man these tunes are fucking hard. It's gonna be good...NorthWest jazz fans be advised.

Wish I could be there. Post some sounds or pics if possible? Have a great show!

Thanks Aric, er, I mean Chewy. Thanks for coming to the show. You're one funny mutherfucker. ps. the bassist doesn't play a horn either...although he is a very horny guy.

I can't let this one sink...I need more help. UP

Saturday, October 28th Monktail Creative Music Concern's Raymond Scott Project Part of the 2006 Earshot Jazz Festival On The Boards 100 W Roy St Seattle, WA 98119 www.ontheboards.org Monktail Creative Music Concern Tributes an Early-Movie Great By Josie Holtzman Who was Raymond Scott? For some, his cultural significance derives from his contribution to early electronic music. A colleague of Robert Moog, Scott is credited with inventing some of the earliest and most sophisticated electronic musical devices such as the Clavivox, one of the earliest synthesizers, and the Electronium, the "instantaneous composer-performance machine." Or perhaps Scott's most significant legacy stems from his commercial success: Warner Brothers bought his Merry Melodies in 1943 to provide the soundtrack for America's favorite irreverently wacky cartoon characters, such as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. But Scott's contributions to the jazz idiom, which were far more enigmatic and ambiguous, have generally been overlooked. A notorious eccentric and perfectionist, Scott, who lived from 1908 to 1994 and graduated from the Julliard School of Music in 1931, may have been lauded as a worthy composer of modern music, but he also has been dismissed for composing "silly pseudo-jazz." In 1939 Rhythm magazine declared: "I don't think that those Scott compositions are sincerely jazz vehicles. Only occasionally do they swing." Ironically, Scott's goal was to revitalize swing, although his methodology seemed counterintuitive: It required that his quintet adhere strictly to the notes and structure of his compositions in a way that straight-jacketed improvisation. The complexly quirky melodies and rhythms of Scott's pieces, which he obsessively and meticulously rehearsed, were performed and recorded by his quintet between 1937 and 1939. His style introduced a new creative perspective, what he called "descriptive jazz," that departed from the jazz norms of the time. So, what would lead the members of The Monktail Creative Music Concern, a growing cadre of Seattle jazz progressivists comprising several bands, to select this supposedly unimprovisable repertoire for their latest project? The Raymond Scott Project came about as a result of the chance encounter between John Ewing, Collective member and founder of the improvised music group, Reptet, and Irwin Chusid, the foremost living Raymond Scott scholar. Ewing detailed that meeting over the animated syncopations of his fellow Monktail comrades as they diligently practiced the demanding Scott tunes inside Capitol Hill's cramped Gallery 1412: "I wanted to use the artwork of the late jazz artist Jim Flora for the cover art for the latest Reptet album, so I got in touch with the guy who was the director of the Flora Archive and Estate. That turned out to be Irwin Chusid." Chusid, an eccentric from New York City was not only the archivist for Jim Flora, but also a locally famous radio personality with his long-running free-form radio show on WFMU, and, as Ewing soon discovered, the reigning expert and guardian of the Raymond Scott archives, which included Scott's musical charts. After Chusid and Ewing worked together on the Reptet artwork, Chusid broached the topic of a Raymond Scott tribute, for which he proposed that Ewing assemble a band and Chusid fly out to Seattle to speak about Scott and his legacy. Chusid also volunteered to provide Scott's charts, which, though never notated by Scott himself, were transcribed at the request of his publicist in the 1940s, and had come to rest solely in the hands of Mr. Chusid. "This is living music," Chusid told Ewing as he handed over the charts only a few months ago. "Irwin was very adamant about us taking the charts and arranging them and taking liberties with them. He wants it to live in the present time," Ewing explained. "We could have taken the tunes and played them exactly as they were played on the records in the '30s and '40s, but instead we assigned each tune to the different members of the collective who did their own personalized arrangements." In this way, Monktail was able to put its own creative stamp on the original songs, composing and arranging more improvised solo sections and even adding some new sections and instrumental parts. They are taking some liberties, but John Seman, who co-founded the Monktail Collective about a decade ago, explains: "In the beginning one of the foremost concerns was remaining true to the composer. But he didn't have all of this free stuff in the middle of a section; so, is that ok?" Chusid's relaxed attitude about the music reassured them that it was, so the collective moved forward with the project, diligently practicing the complex charts, internalizing the music, and using new elements to inform their own interpretations of the pieces. As Seman says, "This is the way we can put what we do inside of that music of Raymond Scott." Scott's music lends itself well to this approach in part because, as Ewing says, "people know the melodies because they grew up watching Warner Brothers cartoons. It's almost part of the soundtrack of people's lives." The project even has a compelling predecessor. A few years ago, clarinetist Don Byron, in his "Bug Music" album and performances, featured Scott prominently in his celebration-by-adaptation of the music of early composers for film and television cartoons. If the success of Byron's project was not encouragement enough, the Monktail collective has the further impetus of being able to look forward to performing this music in the presence of the catalyst for the project and reigning Scott expert, Irwin Chusid. He will deliver a lecture on Raymond Scott at Cornish College in conjunction with Monktail's project. [Note: this lecture has been cancelled.] From the history, to the coincidence, to the concept, Monktail's Raymond Scott Project has evolved from a quirky series of events that seem, now, rather a propos for such an unconventional man of American music. Further, for a group that describes itself as thriving on "the atypical and the exigent; the real weirdo stuff," performing the work of a man of such unconventional musical genius, with a legacy so memorable yet contestable, will doubtlessly produce an evening of nostalgia, entertainment, and inventive interpretation. Followed by: John Hollenbeck’s Claudia Quintet The innovative percussionist, John Hollenbeck, whom Meredith Monk calls "one of the most brilliant musicians" she has worked with, brings together a huge knowledge of musical forms from around the world, from jazz to chamber music to varied folk forms. The result is an intricate blend that defies categories "Innovative jazz does not have to be harsh, angry, loud, shrill, or grating; it can be delicate, witty, ethereal and radiantly lyrical, as the Claudia Quintet pointed out," concluded Howard Reich (Chicago Tribune) after hearing the band. As demonstrated on the group's self-titled, 2002 CD, and in earlier recordings with his Quartet Lucy, Hollenbeck orchestrates compelling, idiosyncratic, ambitious music. Down Beat wrote: "Drummer John Hollenbeck has traveled among jazz, contemporary classical, and pan-ethnic folk music with the agility of a seasoned commuter on the New York City subway." He has ideal fellow travelers in this quintet. Matt Moran is a vibraphonist with a revolutionary approach to the instrument, and experience in everything from the songs of Charles Ives, to the microtonality of Joe and Mat Maneri, to Balkan music (which he plays and teaches). Seattle-raised saxophonist Chris Speed, performing with the likes of Tim Berne, Dave Douglas, and Myra Melford, and leading his own Pachora and other bands, is one of the leading saxophonists on the New York scene. Ted Reichman, on accordion, has demonstrated his range and imagination working with everyone from avant-gardist Anthony Braxton, to klezmer artist David Krakauer, to pop star Paul Simon. Drew Gress (who appears later in this festival with his own project) is a first-call New York bassist who works with Tim Berne, Uri Caine, Don Byron, Fred Hersch, and others. He, Reichman, Speed, and Moran also form the Balkan-swing band, Slavic Soul Party, while Speed and Gress have teamed in the bands of Dave Douglas and others. To capitalize on his quintet members' familiarity with one another, Hollenbeck's compositions display, as Howard Reich of the Tribune put it, "substance and ingenuity," while the quintet elegantly "delved into neo-baroque fugal writing, African and Middle Eastern melody and classical chamber music techniques."

Reptet's first video... by Melissa Parson - 2003

Thanks DukeCity and Late. Those tips will be helpful. Late, do you know the name of the person who books Sam Bond's? Is it Sam himself? Keep em comin' folks...reptet is dyin' to play your town!

We'd love to play Miami. It just was not feasible this past trip. But we intend to go back to the east coast again next year. Do you have any contacts in FL and/ GA? The only way to make it work would be to do a southern tour, that means Miami, Orlando, Savannah, Atlanta, Charlotte, etc. I have no contacts in those areas at all. Let me know if you can help.