Post 549: THANK YOU, STEPHEN FOSTER

I suppose most of us play Stephen Foster songs from time to time. They are among the oldest tunes in our repertoire. Foster wrote over 200 songs - an amazing output, considering that he died at the age of only 37, and that he was largely self-taught in musical theory and instrument playing.

I am particularly fond of Beautiful Dreamer (1864) and Way Down Upon the Swanee River (1851; also known as Old Folks at Home) and I get to play them quite a lot. It is always a poignant thought that Stephen died only a few days after composing Beautiful Dreamer. He did not live to see it published and probably never heard it played by a professional musician.

Foster's tunes may seem somewhat basic, compared with the rags that were added to our repertoire fifty years later. But I believe they should not be under-estimated. He was absolutely brilliant at producing a good melody within everybody's vocal range and with enough repeated phrases to make it easy to learn. His tunes also used very simple chord progressions that made the tunes a doddle to play in those nineteenth-century homesteads, where families had to make their own entertainment and where everybody aspired to own a piano or harmonium or fiddle or accordion or banjo. Also he tended to write 32-bar tunes, using the a-a-b-a structure (four eight-bar blocks) which was to become the standard in popular songs for decades.

And all those features make his tunes very pleasant and straightforward for us to play. Have you noticed how effectively The Shotgun Jazz Band (with Tyler Thomson singing) has been playing My Old Kentucky Home in recent months?

Here's how the wonderful and generous Lasse Collin has made Beautiful Dreamer available to us on his website[ http://cjam.lassecollin.se/ ]:

You see what I mean about the simple lines of the melody and the exceptionally simple chord sequence? But it is a gem of a tune to play. And audiences still love it.

Footnote added later: I noticed that on 6 November 2017 a video was downloaded on to YouTube by RaoulDuke504 in which Tuba Skinny are seen (for the first time?) playing Beautiful Dreamer. So I'm very pleased that they too have added this song to their repertoire.

Post 463: NEW SHOTGUN ALBUM! WHAT A TREAT! 'STEPPIN' ON THE GAS'

What a treat to start 2017!

On New Year's Day Marla and John Dixon's Shotgun Jazz Band released their latest Album, entitled Stepping On The Gas.

It was recorded, like their previous one, at the former Luthjens' Dance Hall. The acoustics were again terrific. Every instrument can be clearly heard. Basically, a six-piece band was used. This was the regular five - Marla Dixon on vocals and trumpet, John Dixon on banjo, James Evans (reeds), Charlie Halloran (trombone) and Tyler Thomson on string bass - plus David Boeddinghaus on piano. But on six tracks they became a 'Big Band' by adding Ben Polcer on trumpet and Tom Fischer on reeds.

I believe the combination of John Dixon on banjo and Tyler Thomson on string bass is just about the greatest in the world for driving along the raw style of New Orleans jazz in rock-steady four-to-the-bar form, and they are well complemented here by the totally dependable David Boeddinghaus. As for James Evans, he is now established as one of the greatest reed-players to be heard anywhere. He has that wonderful artist's knack of making everything sound relaxed, even though he always plays in a hugely creative and technically brilliant manner. And fans of the trombonist Charlie Halloran will particularly enjoy his lusty contributions on such numbers as Smiles, My Old Kentucky Home, She's Crying for Me, and Old Miss Rag. He adds so much to the gutsy, gritty qualities of which the band is proud. Marla, of course, is a gem - great as a band-leader, one of the best trumpet-players and always passionate and distinctive in her singing. She seems to me to know virtually every tune in the book and to have memorised the words of hundreds of songs.

This recording is specially exciting because, in terms of personnel, width of repertoire and quality of the arrangements, it is the most ambitious Album the band has made.

I often complain that bands spin out tunes for seven or eight minutes, even when nobody is dancing. They seem to think almost every member of the band must solo on at least one 32-bar chorus. Such performances can be so dreary. It would be better to keep tunes brief (as they were on the great recordings of the 1920s).

On this Album, The Shotgun Jazz Band seems to have adopted exactly that philosophy. Eight of the tunes are completed in under three minutes. And only three tracks run for over four minutes. This also allows for a goodly number and variety of tunes on the Album: there are 18 in all. 

As the title suggests, much of the Album is inspired by the work of the Sam Morgan band, whose recording of Stepping on the Gas (1927) is closely imitated by the Shotgun, right through to the neat Coda. The Sam Morgan band used two reeds and two trumpets. I guess that is why the Dixons added the extra two instruments for this track. Their 'Big Band' is used to good effect on this tune, as well as on She's Crying for Me, Down by the Riverside and Old Miss Rag.

Throughout the Album, notice the use of neat, intelligent head arrangements usually showing great respect for the original recordings. For example, White Ghost Shivers (for me the most interesting discovery) closely follows the original recording made in the 1920s by The New Orleans Owls. It is a romping number which, to my ear, appears to begin with a spooky theme in C minor, followed by a 16-bar theme in E flat and a further 16-bar theme in A flat – both the latter allowing for plenty of little breaks. There is a great Coda, just as on the original 1920s recording.

She's Crying for Me - also played by the 'Big Band' - is similarly close to the original 1925 New Orleans Rhythm Kings version composed by Santo Pecora. Essentially in A flat, it is complete with the two key changes taking it into and then out of F for a 12-bar blues interlude.

With some of the tunes, you feel immediately as if you were at The Spotted Cat, with Marla's regular band of five or six musicians in cracking form. This is especially true of Smiles, The Curse of An Aching Heart, Pretend, Whenever Your Lonesome, and My Old Kentucky Home. On this last number, Tyler is the singer: it has become one of his party pieces.

There are some interesting performances of obscure numbers. For example, Rose of Bombay is a tune I had not heard before. Apparently it was recorded in 1923 on an Edison Cylinder by Rudy Wiedoeft's Californians. It is a pleasant leisurely number with a Verse followed by a 32-bar Chorus somewhat reminiscent of Hindustan: it uses plenty of minims and semi-breves.

Then there is Guilty – not the song of that name recorded in the 1930s by such singers as Billie Holiday and Al Bowlly - but rather one written and recorded in 1974 by Randy Newman. Marla sings it, accompanied by John on the banjo for a whole two minutes before the full band joins in.

In Breeze and Moonlight Bay the band plays the Verses as well as the Choruses! I bet there were not many of us who knew these Verses.

Marla Dixon

Marla also sings I Hate a Man Like You; and the entire Album begins in a surprisingly simple, tasteful way with Gulf Coast Blues, the 1923 composition by Clarence Williams, recorded by Bessie Smith, which Marla sings mostly with accompaniment by David on piano - very much on the lines of the original, with David taking the Clarence Williams rôle.

Another interesting vocal is How Am I To Know?, sung by James Evans. Apparently it comes from a 1920s film called 'Dynamite' and was composed by Jack King with lyrics by Dorothy Parker, no less! 

The old pop tune Pretend You're Happy When You're Blue, composed by Lew Douglas, Cliff Parman, Frank LaVere and Dan Belloc, is very pleasantly performed, with a vocal from Marla. Why did it take so many people to compose it?! (I believe it was actually Lew Douglas who did most of the work.) After the final vocal, the Shotgun round it off (as also in My Old Kentucky Home) from the Middle Eight - a tactic we should all adopt from time to time.

Charlie takes the lead very movingly on the oldest composition on the Album - Deep River, which is the final track and very effectively winds down the concert. What a beautiful way to bring the Album to an end!

Finally, I must make a special point about Old Miss Rag. The Shotgun Jazz Band plays the tune correctly - having studiously gone right back to the original sheet music. There are three themes, two of which are in F, with the final theme in Bb. THIS is how we should all be playing it! But I'm afraid most bands these days offer a slipshod version in which we play just the first and third themes - and both in the key of F.

W.C. Handy would be disappointed with us. But he would be thrilled to hear the authentic version offered here by the Shotgun.

But now you need to know how to obtain the Album. The simplest way is on line. I found that it downloads in less than half a minute. The wonders of technology! Here's where to go:
https://shotgunjazzband.bandcamp.com/

Post 430: 'BABY, I'D LOVE TO STEAL YOU' FROM BUNK JOHNSON TO TUBA SKINNY

Baby, I'd Love To Steal You is a lovely, simple 16-bar tune. So why are bands not playing it? Why have very few people even heard of it?

It's one of those tunes with an interesting and obscure history and it seems it has never been published in sheet music form.

Here's the story behind it.

The great composer, researcher and record producer Bill Russell (1905 - 1992) was the most important force in the revival of New Orleans jazz in the early 1940s. He founded his company, American Music Records, and set about finding and recording forgotten New Orleans performers. Among them was, of course, Bunk Johnson. Russell's recordings are still available on over 100 CDs.

In one of the recording sessions, Bunk tells him a story about pianist Tony Jackson composing Baby, I'd Love to Steal You in the back room of Dago Tony's club in Storyville. (This must have been about 1910.) Bunk goes on to play the tune on the piano.

Bunk's band probably played it at gigs but it was never sold to a music publisher.

Another great reviver of past glories, cornet-player Chris Tyle, picked up the tune from Bunk's piano version and arranged it for his Silver Leaf Jazz Band. They recorded it, together with nineteen other fine old tunes, on their CD The Smiler in 1993 (Stomp Off Records). In Chris Tyle's band at the time were such players as Lars Edegran, Tom Saunders, Tom Fischer and (on piano) Steve Pistorius. These players are still around and I am sure they remember this tune. So it is not surprising that Steve Pistorius included it in his own 2014 CD New Orleans Shuffle.

So the tune has been brought back to life yet again.

More recently, it has been taken up by a band led by Twerk Thomson and also by Tuba Skinny, who play it in the key of Eb, like Chris Tyle, and closely follow his arrangement:

CLICK HERE TO VIEW.

As a self-taught musician, I struggle when trying to write out tunes and chord sequences by ear. But here is the best I can do with Baby, I'd Love to Steal You. I have entered this in my Moleskine pocket music book. As you can see, I have put it in F rather than Eb, because that suits me better.

Post 315: ANOTHER GREAT ABITA SPRINGS FROM THE SHOTGUN JAZZ BAND

I have written before about the best traditional jazz video of 2014 - The Shotgun Jazz Band playing at the Abita Springs Opry. If you have not read the article, you can do so by clicking here.

The great news is that the Shotgun Jazz Band played there again in 2015, and the video of this more recent performance is now available. Both the sound and picture recording are of a high professional standard and the whole video is a joy. To my mind, this is traditional jazz at its very best.

This year, the band was without its drummer Justin (away at college, I think) but with Tyler Thomson on string bass and John Dixon on banjo, you have an impeccable and powerful rhythm team - providing an absolutely perfect base over which the trumpet, reeds and trombone can conjure their intricate and magical harmonies. This year, Charlie Halloran is on trombone. (In 2014, the trombonist was Barnabus.) Charlie is, of course, one of the very best and hardest-working musicians on the New Orleans scene.

So we see the five musicians playing their way through You Broke Your Promise, Tears, She'll Have To Go, Lord, Lord, Lord, Love Songs of the Nile, You Always Hurt the One You Love and I Love You So Much It Hurts.

It is a video I shall watch time and again. I hope it will give you as much pleasure as it gives me.

The ebullient and dynamic Marla Dixon - as ever - is totally committed in her singing and in her trumpet playing. And note the beautiful interplay between the instruments: these musicians listen so well and perfectly complement each other's playing. There are moments of great beauty, such as the few bars of solo clarinet by James Evans that begin at 12 minutes 31 seconds. Note also the exquisite, tasteful collective improvising, for example at 23 minutes 50 seconds. There are storming choruses in the up-tempo tunes, such as the one Marla drives along in her own distinctive way (cleverly using the derby mute) at 17 minutes 49 seconds and again at 20 minutes 25 seconds.

NOW! Sit back and enjoy this wonderful music:

CLICK HERE.

Post 234: MEETING THE SHOTGUN JAZZ BAND

The Shotgun Jazz Band

Ever since I was overwhelmed by the YouTube video of them playing at The Abita Springs Opry, The Shotgun Jazz Band has been one of my favourite groups of musicians. You can watch that video BY CLICKING HERE. They play a thrilling, raw, no-frills type of traditional jazz. Under the influence of their dynamic leader - Marla Dixon - they are a direct descendant from the bands of Kid Thomas, De De Pierce, Kid Sheik and Kid Howard. Marla learned her jazz by listening to the records of those great trumpet players.

Marla comes from Toronto, where she was also heavily influenced by 'Kid' Cliff Bastien (she met him shortly before he died) and by Patrick Tevlin (who kept The Happy Pals band going after Bastien's death and was instrumental in including a lot of younger talented players and introducing them to traditional jazz).

At school, Marla started by learning to play the bassoon, but she was soon lured away from it by the appeal of trumpets.

Although she now possesses some lovely trumpets, the one she prefers to play with The Shotgun Band is a vintage Olds Ambassador that she bought in a junk shop for a mere 75 dollars.

During my visit to New Orleans in April 2015, I managed to attend three concerts by The Shotgun Jazz Band and I enjoyed the great privilege of spending some time chatting with them, especially Marla and John Dixon. They were so friendly, generous, kind and willing to talk about their music. 

The day I got to meet John Dixon
- one of the great musicians working in New Orleans.

Marla started her working life as a graphic designer. Her husband John (originally from Florida) lived and worked with Marla in Toronto in 2008 before they decided to re-locate to New Orleans.

John had started his musical life by having piano lessons at the age of ten. But in his teenage years he took up the alto saxophone and joined various reading bands - both symphonic and jazz. The music of Duke Ellington was the kind of thing they played. John went on to learning Charlie Parker transcriptions. But his progress was brought to an abrupt end (the kind all musicians dread) by a serious accident and massive dental damage. 

It was not until many years later that he was able to try playing the sax again - but he modestly says he's nowhere near good enough to play it in a traditional jazz band.

So at the time of going to college, he abandoned the saxophone and switched to guitar (mainly electric) and he was soon playing bass guitar in a rock band. After college he formed a country band. John told me he didn't touch a banjo until he met Marla, who bought him his first one while he was staying with her in Toronto. He played it on a gig at Grossman's Tavern with Marla's dixieland band - The Don Valley Stompers - and has been hooked ever since. John specialises in a distinctive rock-steady pulsating rhythm, striking all four beats evenly. It's my favourite type of New Orleans rhythm-section playing and it possibly owes something to George Guesnon (1907 - 1968) whose recordings were an inspiration to John.

Marla playing with The Don Valley Stompers in Canada,
a few years before she migrated to New Orleans.
And doesn't that string bass player seem very familiar?

Over breakfast in my hotel, a gentleman said that in her trumpet playing Marla lacks the technique of the virtuoso trumpet players he had heard showing off in the nearby streets, where they produced torrents of high-pitched notes. I told him that such a comment completely misunderstands what Marla sets out to do. Having observed her closely, I can assure you Marla's technique is very good indeed. In fact it is perfect for the kind of jazz The Shotgun Jazz Band plays. Not only does she find just the right notes (often using sixths, ninths and flattened thirds to add to the excitement); she is a model in timing, phrasing, attack and sheer driving energy. She is also an expert in getting the most thrilling effects from a mute - especially her aluminium derby mute. I asked whether she inherited that mute from Kid Bastien; but in fact she did not. The Dixons think Bastien's similar mute is now being used by Patrick Tevlin back in Toronto.

As if that isn't enough, Marla knows by heart the words of dozens of songs, without any need to refer to sheets of paper. And she sings with a raw passion and heart-on-sleeve intensity that exactly matches her trumpet playing. And she can play the sousaphone - as she often did in the past.

It is interesting to trace the evolution of the great Shotgun Jazz Band. It seems the seeds were not sown until after John and Marla decided to leave Toronto and try their luck in New Orleans. There, they played as a duet for tips in the streets (mainly at The French Market). They were occasionally joined by a like-minded musician or two. The Dixons happened to arrive in New Orleans at just the right time. There was an amazing resurgence of interest in traditional jazz, with many fine young musicians migrating to that City. John thinks it was significant that dancers arrived too - especially such brilliant dancers as Amy Johnson and Chance Bushman. John told me: 'What followed were more dancers, and with more dancers, more musicians. It was coincidental that Marla and I happened to move here at the same time as this resurgence of interest in traditional jazz. We really had no idea what was going on until we were in it.'

Incidentally, the great reed player Aurora Nealand also told me about the importance for jazz musicians in New Orleans of playing for dancing. She thought this did much to explain the special free and relaxed quality of the New Orleans brand of traditional jazz.

By 2011, Marla and John Dixon decided to make a CD, so they hired a couple more players for this purpose and called the resulting band The Shotgun Jazz Band because they were living in a shotgun house. What a great choice of name that was, by the way. It's immediately striking and memorable. Suddenly they were a proper band, attracting gigs. That first CD (called Algiers Strut), with Ben Polcer on piano, happened to include Love Songs of the Nile, I Can't Escape and Oriental Man - all of which are still among the most popular numbers in their repertoire. The second CD (One Drink Minimum) did not appear until March 2013 and was recorded during several performances at The Spotted Cat. By then, the Dixons had a regular booking there. The CD involved twelve different musicians.

Marla and John's band had no settled personnel at the time. Among the musicians who occasionally played in The Shotgun Jazz Band were Christopher Johnson, Michael Magro, Peter Loggins, Orange Kellin, Todd Yannacone, Robert Snow, Benji Bohannon, Tommy Sancton, Aurora Nealand, Jon Gross, Robin Rapuzzi, Barnabus Jones, Craig Flory and several others.

Two more CDs appeared in 2013. And a fifth came out in September 2014. This was Yearning, well recorded at Luthjen's Dance Hall and demonstrating the high quality of playing they had by then achieved. I think it is the CD of which they are the most proud. (You can read my review of it BY CLICKING HERE).

But by then the Band had a reasonably settled line-up and had honed its distinctive sound into the form so many enthusiasts love today.

John pointed out that at Shotgun gigs Marla runs a fairly 'tight ship' and he is proud that their repertoire has become so varied. Of course they play the standards, but, as John says, they also do a lot of 'pop and R&B tunes as well as a few arranged tunes'.

The young Tyler Thomson - one of the world's most exciting players - followed the Dixons to New Orleans from Toronto and joined them on string bass. Tyler's hero was Alcide Pavageau (1888 - 1969); and it shows. It's no surprise that he forms such a great rhythmic engine-room partnership with John Dixon. Justin Peake from Alabama was recruited on drums. His light-touch 4/4 style of playing perfectly complements the strong rhythmic base of the music that Tyler and John provide. Even though Justin went off to college, the Dixons still asked him to play with them whenever he was in town.

The versatile and ubiquitous trombone-player Charlie Halloran from St. Louis played with them a great deal - and still occasionally does. And Haruka Kikuchi - the super young trombonist - moved to New Orleans from Japan at the end of 2013 and settled perfectly into the band - as if it fulfilled her dreams. Marla first encountered and recruited Haruka when she heard her busking with Yoshitaka Tsuji in 2014 on Jackson Square. (Yoshitaka, who plays Oscar Peterson-style piano in other bands, has since become Haruka's husband.) That superb musician Ben Polcer (originally from New York), long-time friend of the Dixons and an original member of The Loose Marbles, is very busy on the New Orleans scene; but he still helps out from time to time with The Shotgun Jazz Band, either on piano or - if Marla is unavailable - on trumpet.

Welshman James Evans (reeds) also joined the band at about the same time as Haruka. James told me that when he used to play in the U.K. he would often arrive home from gigs by train in the middle of the night; and that most of his fee would be eaten up by the train fare. He decided to try his luck in New Orleans and his family quickly settled, with his twin children now in school there. He seems to have been snapped up by Marla and John! 'Now,' he said, 'to go to work I have only to walk eight blocks.' As one of the best reed players in the jazz world, James is much in demand and also plays in other New Orleans bands. I could tell that he was a very happy man and really enjoying the fun in working with Marla and John. Just look at him at 3 minutes 26 seconds in this video:-  CLICK HERE.

With such a virtuoso as James on clarinet and sax, and Haruka Kikuchi or Charlie Halloran on trombone, and Tyler Thomson well established on string bass, the Dixons arrived at a line-up that plays gutsy traditional jazz of the most exciting kind. They have rapidly risen to be very special and one of the most entertaining traditional jazz bands in the world.

What a souvenir of my April 2015 visit!
It was a great thrill for me to meet
the dynamic Marla Dixon.

While in town, I spent an evening at The Maison, because The Shotgun Jazz Band was playing there. Someone in the audience asked Marla to play Lady Be Good. I hoped Marla would refuse. I had always thought that tune repetitive and not offering a band much to work on. However, Marla obliged and The Shotgun Jazz Band launched into Lady Be Good. To my amazement, the excitement built up chorus by chorus until it became one of the most sensational performances of a tune that I heard during my entire stay in New Orleans. (It taught me a lesson: I shall no longer have preconceived dislikes of tunes!) After the applause ended, an English band-leader of my acquaintance, who was sitting at a nearby table, came over to me and said, 'If I died right now, I would die a very happy man!' I know exactly what he meant.

Post 233: MEET TYLER THOMSON OF THE SHOTGUN JAZZ BAND

Today let's play Fantasy Traditional Jazz. Imagine you have to put together your 'dream' band - drawn from the very best musicians alive today. Who would you have on string bass?

I can tell you that I would pick the young Canadian Tyler Thomson.

Tyler comes from Toronto where he mastered his trade with The Happy Pals Band. His inspiration was the great New Orleans bassist Alcide Pavageau (1888-1969), who recorded with the bands of George Lewis and Bunk Johnson in the 1940s and who also played in the early days of Preservation Hall.

Tyler is sensationally good, whether he is playing a sympathetic background in a slow number, or pounding a solid 4/4 in a pulsating performance of a quick tune. For a fine example of his work, look at this video (CLICK HERE TO VIEW) and note especially his dazzling solo chorus in Oriental Man. It comes at 17 minutes 36 seconds. It's heartening to think he was only 25 years old at the time of this performance.

As you can see, Tyler plays now in The Shotgun Jazz Band. When I met him during my visit to New Orleans in April 2015, he told me he had gone to New Orleans 'for a vacation' in 2013 and had stayed ever since.

Of course this was one of his jokes. I quickly discovered three things about Tyler:

(1) Offstage, he hardly ever stops joking. In fact, all members of The Shotgun Jazz Band are constantly joking, teasing and laughing and I'm sure this is one reason why they strike anyone who meets them as a 'happy family' as well as a happy band.

(2) He is so modest about his music-making that it's impossible to get him to talk seriously about it.

(3) Tyler is obsessed by sport - both as a player and a spectator. Sometimes, between tunes, you see him on his mobile catching up on the latest scores. He broke his foot playing basketball early in 2015 and was going around on crutches (but still playing gigs) for quite a while. I was pleased to see him on the first day off crutches, though still hobbling.

So Tyler will tell you he has been playing string bass since his late teenage years but still has no idea what he is doing, apart from having fun.

Tyler playing in
The Shotgun Jazz Band,
April 2015.

Having followed Marla and John Dixon to New Orleans, he joined them playing on the streets, where they already had the nucleus of today's Shotgun Jazz Band. They made CDs and started to get invitations to play in the clubs, bars and festivals. By 2015, they were so busy with bookings (averaging five a week) that they no longer needed to play on the streets for tips. Tyler is pleased about that. He found the street work increasingly tiring, especially when - because of the competition - it became so hard to secure a good spot. (Some member of the band would have to grab the spot the night before and man it all through the night if they were to be sure of having it in the morning.)

Despite his jokes, Tyler clearly knows exactly what he is doing when he is playing. He doesn't put a foot wrong or hit an incorrect chord while maintaining a rock-steady four-beats-to-the-bar (sometimes eight) bass line. I have never seen him refer to a chord book. He has internalised the chord sequences of a huge range of tunes.

It's not surprising that this exciting player is now much in demand. He is booked by such long-established greats as Michael White and Greg Stafford to play in their bands from time to time.

So since 2014, Tyler has been playing about five gigs a week, mainly with The Shotgun Jazz Band. Its dynamic leader - the trumpet player Marla Dixon - is a fellow Canadian who also worked and studied with The Happy Pals in Toronto. Marla's husband John plays banjo in the band. He and Tyler together provide a formidable rhythmic backing for the band, as you must have noted from the video. John Dixon's jazz hero was the banjo player George Guesnon (1907-1968) who played in such legendary bands as those of Papa Celestin and Sam Morgan, George Lewis and Kid Thomas Valentine. Like Tyler's hero Pavageau, George Guesnon also played in the earliest days at Preservation Hall. It's easy to see how The Shotgun Jazz Band is a direct descendant from those great bands.

And (like so many of the young New Orleans musicians) Tyler can also play play a second instrument - in his case the piano. He is no mean pianist when working in a jazz band, as this video demonstrates: CLICK HERE TO VIEW.

The third member of the Shotgun's rhythm section is the drummer Justin Peake, whose light 4/4 touch has fitted in perfectly with the style of John and Tyler. Unfortunately for the band, Justin has gone off to college, but he still plays with them whenever he can.

When Justin is unavailable, John and Tyler have found they can do such a powerful job - even as a two-man rhythm section - that they are happy enough to play often without a drummer, especially in the smaller more intimate venues. Here's an example (from April 2015) of such a performance:

CLICK HERE TO VIEW.

A further interesting point about Tyler is that early in 2016 he acquired some recording equipment from the 1930s, restored it and launched into making 78 rpm records. He easily persuaded several of the very best musicians based in New Orleans to visit his 'studio' and make records, just for fun at first, I think. But by February 2017 he had started seriously to produce records likely to become historically very important.