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| Nathanson, Roy |
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| Roy Nathanson has spent the last 25 years composing and performing free & post–bop jazz with/for an assortment of odd punk, world and “new” music projects coming out of the “downtown” NYC scene. He and Curtis Fowlkes formed the Jazz Passengers in the late 80s, mostly with members of John Lurie’s late-period Lounge Lizards. The band was meant to simultaneously be less downtown cool and more vaudeville as well as more compositionally involved in a jazz sense. He has also composed soundtracks for a variety of movies including Raising Victor Vargas (with vibist Bill Ware), and written radio plays commissioned by NPR. Eventually the Jazz Passengers collaborated with a number of well-known singers including Jimmy Scott, Elvis Costello and Debbie Harry. These collaborations and Roy’s unique combination of lyrics, poetry and music culminated on record in his 2000 release of The Fire At Keaton’s Bar and Grille, featuring both Elvis and Debbie.
Over the last two years, Roy has been utilizing the hip new Brooklyn club Barbès to workshop his new combination of stories/songs/poems and music, which has finally come to fruition on Sotto Voce. Bassist Tim Kiah studied with Ron Carter and also has the distinctively un-Jewish background of having gone to National Catholic Choir School. Tim is able to sing complicated vocal parts while playing the bass in odd time signatures – precisely the kind of skill that has helped this form come alive. By utilizing the violin of Sam Bardfeld, the band increased it’s lyricism as well as allowing for the violin double stops to be the only chordal sound. With the arrival of Napoleon Maddox the sound was finally complete. Napoleon is a marvelously gifted vocalist who is equally at home with “beat–boxing” hip hop and jazz as he is at singing. |
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