The NRB is enjoying an enviable career playing classic, hot, and trad jazz while poking fun at themselves.
Its cast of characters and connections covered the globe, from down the street in its hometown and home base of Saginaw, MI USA, to the Amazon River, Reno, and other exotic and some decidedly unexotic ports of call.
(The character holding the sign for NRB’s 3rd Annual Farewell Tour in 2009 is Dave Oppermann. Many of you know him as the piano player for NRB, rather than a farewell sign ‘holder upper’.)
And we also love learning about and developing our observations on jazz history. Fascinating.
Announcing the History of Jazz, NRB Style
Henceforth — we use these kinds of words sparingly, so listen carefully — we’re sharing what we know, found out, heard, and believe about OKOM (Our Kind of Music.). The nuggets of history will be on this site and in our emails to subscribers.
For example, the black and white image to the left is of the Prince Rogers Trio, talented jazz musicians who heavily influenced Prince, one of American rock’s true icons. (That Prince Rogers happened to be Prince’s Dad may have helped a bit, but we’re sure it was mainly the jazz influence.)
For the NRB, the first stop on the upcoming NRB jazz history tour will be before the group was formed.
The setting is Denison University in the late ’50s, and a sold-out gig titled Melomania, produced by a young chap named Dave Oppermann. It featured a famous collegiate group called the Salty Dogs Jazz Band, a pianist named George Shearing, and an unknown but somewhat promising new group called the Kingston Trio.
The fun begins next week.